Fresh problems for the French government as Lecornu’s master’s degree comes under scrutiny

Brussels – There is no peace in France, where the political crisis seems endless and deepening. Not even a month after being chosen to lead the government, Sebastian Lecornu ends up in the eye of the storm for qualifications he never obtained. The loyalist of French President Emmanuel Macron lied about the master’s degree in public law, which he claimed to have but never actually obtained. While he did attend the course, he apparently never finished it, failing to validate the second of the two-year program, claims the National Union of Public Education Officials (SNAPEN), which has filed a lawsuit with the Republic’s Court of Justice against the prime minister, now embroiled in a ‘scandal’ that could topple his administration. 

Lecornu has hit back, threatening slander lawsuits against the union over what he dismisses as a ‘fabricated controversy,’ but, whatever the outcome, the French prime minister seems unlikely to emerge looking good. Vincent Brengarth, SNAPEN’s lawyer, recalls that no law requires members of the government to hold degrees, however “the lack of transparency regarding the level of education acquired by a Minister of State risks undermining the credibility of the certification of French public universities, republican equality, the honor of teacher-researchers and, more generally, the public service mission entrusted to higher education institutions.”​

The story in France today is not an isolated phenomenon in Europe. In Italy, similar controversies arose when Giuseppe Conte, in 2018, was nominated for the role of Prime Minister, and doubts emerged about the studies in the United States cited in the curriculum. Even more serious was the affair involving Oscar Giannino, who lied about both an undergraduate and a master’s degree he claimed to have. Engulfed by the scandal linked to his false credentials, Giannino resigned from Fare Per Fermare il Decline, the party of which he was leader. Worse still, Giannino even lied about appearing on Zecchino d’oro, only to be contradicted by Mago Zurlì himself.

For Italy, lying about credentials is a national sport. In 2013, Guido Crosetto, the current Defense Minister, was contradicted on his personal claims of a degree in economics that he never obtained. Instead, Valeria Fedeli, Education Minister under Paolo Gentiloni, found herself embroiled in controversy for having falsely presented a diploma from Milan’s School for Social Workers (UNSAS) as a university degree in Social Sciences.