[1] On 2 April 2012, Schmitt announced to the Hungarian Parliament his resignation as president, following the outbreak of a controversy surrounding his 1992 doctoral dissertation.

"[12] Schmitt said he did not intend to take an obstructionist stance towards the government, and sought a more active role in the political process such as the drafting of the country's new constitution.

Soon after his election Schmitt came under heavy attack from some opposition parties, that refused to attend the presidential inauguration, citing high costs and a late invitation.

[clarification needed][18][19] This confirmed that he proclaimed it at the time of the starting of his presidential activity, he wants to be "man of the people", and would like to favour and help the current government's work.

[24] In November 2010, during a presidential speech he declared one of his major goals to be the preservation and fostering of the Hungarian language and stressed that this would be made compulsory by law.

However, after this speech the website of the Office of the President published statements that were full of grammatical and stylistic errors and were ridiculed by the general public.

[25][26][27][28] By 31 December 2010, Schmitt had signed nearly one hundred bills which had been voted on by the National Assembly; he did not send any back for consideration by the parliament, nor submit any to the Constitutional Court for judicial review.

[29] In 1992 Pál Schmitt defended his dissertation for a doctor of philosophy degree summa cum laude at the Testnevelési Egyetem (University of Physical Education).

[30] On 11 January 2012, the website of the Hungarian magazine Heti Világgazdaság accused Schmitt of plagiarizing the work of a Bulgarian sport expert in his doctoral dissertation.

Nikolay Georgiev's Analyse du programme olympique (des Jeux d’Olympiade) had been finished in 1987, and Schmitt's dissertation, completed in 1992, appears to be almost entirely a translation of this work.

[36] However, a minority report was issued by the single non-faculty member of the committee, which called for the revocation of Schmitt's doctoral degree.

[42] On 22 March 2014, Schmitt said in a short interview that he had given up his plans for graduating as a PhD, but instead would write a monograph on the effects of sports on the environment and sustainable development, which would have been the theme of the promised degree thesis.

The committee was put together in order to promote efforts inside and outside of Hungary and it is made up of 23 members from various sport, business and public backgrounds working together to monitor, review and find a strategic direction for the bidding process.

[46] The Hungarian Olympic Committee re-elected Krisztián Kulcsár in June 2020, as well as other appointments including that of Schmitt to the executive body as representative of the IOC.

Taking such actions would ensure that Hungarian athletes could participate in the qualification tournaments in preparation for the Tokyo Olympic Games.