Achtung, the Germans! The teams from the German speaking regions make up one of the largest groups here at Galway Euros, the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC and Euros) held in Ireland this year. 17 teams from Germany and Austria are competing for the title at the western coast of the Emerald Isle. To make sure you keep your fingers crossed for the right teams, we are presenting you with the names:

• Mainz A, Marcus Ewald and Marietta Gädeke, Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg Mainz  (8 points)
• Mainz B, Nicolas Eberle and Robert Lehmann, Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg Mainz (11)
• Tübingen A, Philipp Stiel and Sarah John, Streitkultur Tübingen (6)
• Tübingen B, Marie Rulfs and Konrad Gütschow, Streitkultur Tübingen (6)
• München, Wladi Jachtschenko and Marco Witzmann, Debattierclub München (10)
• Münster A, Johannes Haug and Teresa Widlok, Debattierclub Münster (9)
• Münster B, Gerrit Gottschalk and Philipp Schmidtke, Debattierclub Münster (6)
• Tilbury, Lukas Haffert and Lyuba Ilieva, Tilbury House Köln (9)
• Berlin A, John Eltringham and Cloud Ramasendaran, Berlin Debating Union (9)
• Berlin B, Dessislava Kirova and Juliane Mendelsohn, Berlin Debating Union (8)
• Berlin C, Florian Umscheid and Niels Schröter, Berlin Debating Union (7)
• Potsdam, Moritz Kirchner and Mathias Hamann, Wortgefechte Potsdam (9)
• Wien A, Christoph Jäger and Leonhard Weese, Debattierklub Wien (8)
• Wien B, Karoline Lutz and Regina Puthenpurayil, Debattierklub Wien (5)
• Stuttgart A, Andreas Lazar and Nils Haneklaus, Debattierclub Stuttgart (9)
• Stuttgart B, Sven Hein and Tom Hebel, Debattierclub Stuttgart (8)
• Aachen, Marc-André Schulz andAnna Heynkes, Debattierclub Aachen (6)

In brackets you find the points after round 6. Today’s rounds 7 to 9 are closed rounds – no feedback, no results will be announced. Excitement!

In addition to all of these ambitous debaters, we’ve also met two German guys who are representing a French society: the debating society of Sciences Po Paris. So far, they had not heard about the German (language) debating circuit at all. After a friendly takeover of Austrian and Swiss deb socs – shouldn’t VDCH think about approaching the French debating circuit?

The European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros) have been held annually since 1999. It was started in Rotterdam where 32 teams of two competed for the title. For the records: In Amsterdam, 192 teams competed for the very same title in 2010. Format has ever since been British Parliamentary Style (BPS), language of debate is English. Debaters from all over Europe and Israel take part in Euros and compete with each other in two categories: the open break (for native speakers) and “English as a Second Language” (ESL). Current champions are Eoghan Casey and Patrick Rooney (Kings Inn), ESL champions are Maja Cimerman and Filip Dobranic from Ljubljana. This year’s Euros will be held in Galway, Ireland, from 7 to 13 August. Chief adjudicator is Ruth Faller (Ireland), her deputies are Shengwu Li (Singapore), Simone van Elk (The Netherlands), Steven Nolan (Ireland) and Yoni Cohen Idov (Israel). Isabelle Loewe from Debattierclub Bonn and Tony Murphy (Ireland) will be equity officers. Galway’s tabmaster is Harry McEvansoneya, an Irish as well. During the Euros, the EUDC Council will sit and for instance decide about the host of next year’s championship. Currently, Belgrade (Serbia) is bidding for staging the European Universities Debating Championships 2012.