BERLIN (AP) A senior politician in one of Germany’s governing parties says he will stop calling himself “doctor” amid doubts over whether he is entitled to.

Andreas Scheuer, the new general secretary of Bavaria’s conservative Christian Social Union, gained his title from a Prague university. But the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper reported that the Czech qualification entitles him to use the “doctor” title in only two of Germany’s 16 states under academic guidelines.

Scheuer told mass-circulation daily Bild on Friday that he’s now decided “to give up completely using the title in the future.”

Academic titles are highly prized in Germany, and have been in focus after two German ministers quit in the past three years over allegations they plagiarized parts of their doctoral theses.

AP

This story has been automatically published from the Associated Press wire which uses US spellings