Austrian plagiarism investigator Stefan Weber has accused German Chancellor Friedrich Merz of copying text without attribution in his 2002 policy book “Mut zur Zukunft. Wie Deutschland wieder an die Spitze kommt”. In a 22-page analysis, Weber identifies 25 suspected instances of plagiarism across 18 passages of the 317-page volume, citing overlaps with works by several academics and politicians. The book was published without a source bibliography. Plagiarism scholar Jochen Zenthöfer, who reviewed Weber’s dossier, called the allegations disproportionate, saying the criticised material covers less than 6 percent of the book and largely involves factual descriptions. The Chancellery has not commented on the matter. The debate over academic attribution has spilled into another high-profile appointment. Ahead of a Bundestag vote on 11 July to fill three vacancies at the Federal Constitutional Court, the CDU/CSU signalled it could abstain unless the SPD withdraws its nominee, law professor Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf, after separate plagiarism claims surfaced against her. A two-thirds majority is required; without the Union’s votes, the election of Brosius-Gersdorf—alongside SPD candidate Ann-Katrin Kaufhold and Union candidate Günter Spinner—would likely be delayed.