Diner is over, everybody is well fed, veeeery sweet “sticky toffee” fudge as dessert. But here is, what you’re probably really interested in instead of our diet. Maybe the motions of the quarters?

• Open break quarters: “This house would never fight for King and Country.”
• ESL break quarters: “This house would ban all EU arms companies from selling arms outside the EU.”

From quarters, it was the following teams who advanced to semis:

OPEN BREAK TO SEMIS
The motion of the open break semi-finals read: “This house believes that the West should promise preferential economic and political cooperation to Arab democracies who adopt secular constitutions.”

Semi 1

• TCD Hist
• UCC Phil
• Oxford A
• UCC law B

Semi 2

• Cambridge A
• Oxford C
• ULU B
• Durham B

ESL BREAK TO SEMIS

The motion of the ESL semi-finals read: “This house would require persons who work in the media to wait 4 yrs before running for public office or wotking for the government.”

Semi 1

• Leiden A
• Munich A
  That is Marco Witzmann und Wladi Jachtschenko.
• Tel Aviv C
• Erasmus A

Semi 2

• Utrecht A
• Babes Bolyai A
• Tel Aviv A
• Belgrade A

That was the semis – but who is gonna be fighting for the title tomorrow? There will be two finals, ESL (English as a Second Language) and the main break.Dopn’t lose your spirits, we have it all here for you, read on!

OPEN BREAK TO THE FINAL

• Durham B
• Cambridge A
• TCD His B
• Oxford A

ESL BREAK TO FINAL

• Tel Aviv A
• Babes Bolyai A
• Erasmus A
• Tel Aviv C

Draws and motions will be announced tomorrow afternoon, ESL final starting at 3 p.m., open break final at 5 p.m. Guess who will be reporting from there!? Right, your Achte Minute correspondents.

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.

Note from the editor: During Galway, we’ll be publishing mostly in English only. Thanks for understanding.