„Hungary's most enthralling political drama since the riots of autumn 2006 is over. Pál Schmitt, the beleaguered president, resigned earlier today after days of mounting political pressure. Last week Semmelweis University stripped Mr Schmitt of his doctoral degree after a committee found that he had directly lifted 17 pages and had partially copied a further 180 pages of his 1992 thesis on the modern Olympic games.
Mr Schmitt initially refused to resign, saying that the affair had nothing to do with his role as president. But calls for him to quit filled the Hungarian media over the weekend, many of them from the right-wing media and influential conservative blogs. All four opposition parties called for the president to resign, although Viktor Orbán, the prime minister, said Mr Schmitt should make his own mind up. (...)
Resignations in Hungarian public life are rare and Mr Schmitt is the first president to step down since the end of communism. Ironically, he may have given his greatest public service by showing that, even in Hungary, there are limits to what the public will tolerate from their politicians.”