Politico: Ministers and Other Officials in Spain Resign Over Fake Diplomas
An increasing number of politicians in Spain have come under pressure to resolve controversial academic entries in their resumes after three government ministers resigned over diploma forgery, reports Brussels-based portal Politico, as cited by Danas.
The first exposed official was the deputy secretary of the center-right People’s Party (PP) and former MP Noelia Núñez, who gained popularity among conservative youth in Spain through social media.
In July, it was revealed that Núñez did not hold a double degree in law and public administration, as listed on the Spanish parliament’s website. Journalists further confirmed she had also forged a degree in English philology, which she claimed to have earned at Francisco Marroquín University in Guatemala.
After the allegations, Núñez resigned, and the PP instructed its members and officials to review their resumes to prevent similar incidents in the future.
False academic claims were also uncovered in the case of Socialist Party official José María Ángel Batalla, who claimed to have a degree in archiving and library science from the University of Valencia.
He stated that he had completed the program in 1983, although the university did not introduce the program until 1990.
Following this revelation, Batalla also resigned and is expected to face legal consequences, as he used the fake diploma to apply for a job in the Spanish civil service in the early 1980s—misleading the state, which could lead to criminal prosecution.
Ignacio Herrero, who oversaw forestry and land management in the regional government of Extremadura, also resigned.
Herrero, a member of the far-right Vox party, claimed to have earned a marketing degree from the Central European University (CEU) in Vienna, decades before the program had even been established.
Spanish politicians are not required to have university degrees, but the public expects them to prove their qualifications for office through their academic credentials, Politico writes, as cited by Beta.
A notable misstep in self-promotion was made by former PP leader Pablo Casado, who claimed to have attended postgraduate studies at the prestigious Harvard University, only for it to be revealed later that he had merely participated in a three-day course held in Madrid.
Health Minister Carmen Montón resigned after it was discovered that she had plagiarized her master’s thesis.
Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz commented on the fake resumes of officials, saying they reflect, as she put it, a problematic class-based debate around obtaining university degrees in Spain.
She added that “politics is not a technical issue” and should be open to citizens who have been unable to obtain higher education.
“We cannot demand that all our politicians have degrees,” Díaz said, adding that, throughout her career, she had known many ministers with “numerous diplomas” who had not performed well in public administration.
