Since we guess that our appreciated readers follow us on Twitter your head will most probably be replete with impressions from Galway Euros. But what are the facts and figures about the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC or Euros)? Or maybe you have been there yourself and want to sort things out now? Your Achte Minute team provides you with all you might want to know – and even beyond. By the way, you still might wanna follow the Hashtag #EUDC on Twitter – you’ll find funny stories and how everybody copes with the aftermath of post-Euros exhaustion.

Mere Numbers and Names

In Galway, 180 teams from all over Europe, Israel and even Qatar were competing at the European Universities Debating Championships. 76 of those teams were ESL  teams comprising 166 ESL speakers where ESL stands for English as a Second Language. 630 people took part in the Galway Euros – 360 of them as speakers, the rest as judges, volunteers, members of the orgcomm, runners, and of course as members of the adjudication team. Chief adjudicator was Ruth Faller, as her deputies functioned Steven Nolan, Shengwu Li, Simone van Elk and Yoni Cohen-Idov. But have we really just mentioned the CA team and forgot the orgcomm? Well, here they are: Nollaig Ó Scannláin (convener), Oisín Collins (registratinon director), Jacqueline Driscoll (tournament director), Ronan Fitzpatrick (finance director), Conor Kelly ( public relations director), Aisling O’Connell (accommodation director), Evelyn Whyms (volunteer director), Karen Traynor (social director), David Crowe (food director) and Donal Healy (transport director). Thank you, guys, for an amazing Galway Euros experience! And thanks a lot to the volunteers from all over Ireland and even The Netherlands. You did a great job!

The Motions

• Round 1: This house would bring back death penalty.
• Round 2: This house would prohibit the media from using software to cosmetically improve an individual’s appearance.
• Round 3: This house believes that Germany should ban the publication of Mein Kampf indefinitely.
  Info slide that came with the motion: “In Germany, the Bavarian state Government holds the copyright to Hitler’s Mein Kampf and has thus far porevented its publication. Heavily censored versions are available at most German libraries. The copyright expires in 2016, whereupon any person may publish Mein Kampf in Germany.”
• Round 4: This house believes that Barack Obama should have vetoed any debt deal that did not increase taxation.
• Round 5: This house would allow the creation of donor siblings.
  Info slide that came with the motion: “Many deseases present in children require difficult-to-find tissue and organ donation. It is possible to select an embryo using in-vitro fertilization (IVF) to ensure a match for donation. However, this is generally illegal. Children thus conceived are known as donor siblings.”
• Round 6: This house believes that hacking is an acceptable form of protest against large corporations.
• Round 7: This house believes that early childhood education in schools should undermine traditional gender roles.
• Round 8: This house believes that America and the EU should cease all financial, political and military support to both Israel and the Palestinian Authority until they reach a peace agreement.
• Round 9: This house would legally require priests to report all serious crimes that they hear of in confessions.
• ESL quarters: This house would ban all EU arms companies from selling arms outside the EU.
• Open quarters: This house would never fight for King and Country.
• ESL semis: This house would require persons who work in the media to wait four years before running for public office or working for the government.
• Open semis: This house believes that the West should promise preferential economic and political cooperation to Arab democracies who adopt secular constitutions.
• ESL final: This house believes that God exists.
• Open final: This house believes that the state should pay reparations to women.

The Open Break to Quarters

Here is the break to quarters complete with speaker names and winning points after nine prelims:

• TCD Hist B, Catherine Murphy and Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin, Trinity College Dublin (23 team points, 1530 speaker points)
• Cambridge A, Harish Natarajan and Jack Watson, Cambridge University (23, 1517)
• UCC Phil A, Sean Butler and John Beechinor, University College Cork (20, 1482)
• Oxford A, Ben Woolgar and Hugh Burns, Oxford University (20, 1481)
• KCL A, Jordan Anderson and Daniel Berman, King’s College London ( 20, 1450)
• Tel Aviv A, Omer Nevo and Sella Nevo, Tel Aviv University (20, 1444)
• UCD L&H C, Ciaran Garrett and Michael O’Dwyer, University College Dublin (20, 1430)
• King’s Inns A, Aengus O Corrain and Ian Boyle Harper, King’s Inns Dublin (19, 1458)
• UCD L&H A, Christine Simpson and Mark Haughton, University College Dublin (19, 1452)
• Oxford C, Leo Watkins and Scott Ralston, Oxford University (19, 1428)
• Durham B, Thomas Ball and Benjamin Dory, Durham University (19, 1427)
• UCC Law B, Gearoid Wrixon and Becky West, University College Cork (19, 1419)
• Warwick B, Steven Rajavinothan and Richard Hopps, University of Warwick (19, 1405)
• ULU B, Mischa Beekman and Carlo Cabrera, University of London (19, 1397)
• Cambridge B, Stuart Cribb and Rebecca Meredith, Cambridge University (18, 1452)
• UCC Phil B, Sophie Scannell and Maureen Haverty, University College Cork (18, 1439)

The Open Break to Semis

• TCD Hist B
• Cambridge A
• UCC Phil A
• Oxford A
• Oxford C
• Durham B
• UCC Law B
• ULU B

The Open Final

• TCD Hist B
• Cambridge A
• Oxford A
• Durham B

The ESL Break to Quarters

• Tel Aviv A, Sella Nevo and Omer Nevo, Tel Aviv University (20 team points, 1444 speaker points)
• Ben Gurion A, Shachar Langbeheim and Ori Noked, Ben Gurion University of the Negev (17, 1419)
• Erasmus A, Jeroen Huen and Daniël Springer, University of Rotterdam (16, 1431)
• Babes Bolyai A, Radu Cotarcea and Bianca Dragomir, Babes Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca (16, 1402)
• Utrecht A, Thomas Beerthuis and Danique van Kopenhagen, University of Utrecht (16, 1396)
• Leiden A, Rogier Baart and Susanne Kingma, University of Leiden (16, 1392)
• Groningen A, Jeroen Dokter and Henk van Zuilen, University of Groningen (16, 1386)
• Koc A, Can Talaz and Berkay Özlüdil, Wehbi Koc University Istanbul (16, 1373)
• Belgrade A, Marko Cirovic and Milan Vignjevic, Belgrade University (16, 1370)
• Tel Aviv C, Yael Bezalel and Adi Grady, Tel Aviv University (16, 1361)
• Tel Aviv B, Alon Cohen and Ro’ee Levy, Tel Aviv University (15, 1402)
• BDU B, Dessislava Kirova and Juliane Mendelsohn ( 15, 1371)
• Hebrew University B, Hanan Cidor and Jordan Oilvero, Hebrew University of Jerusalem ( 15, 1365)
• Tilbury House A, Lukas Haffert and Lyuba Ilieva, University of Cologne (15, 1359)
• Munich A, Marco Witzmann and Wladi Jachtschenko, University of Munich (15, 1356)
• IDC Herzliya A, Mila Finkelshtein and Uri Feldman, Interdisciplinary Center of Herzliya (15, 1356)

The ESL Break to Semis

• Tel Aviv A
• Erasmus A
• Babes Bolyai A
• Utrecht A
• Leiden A
• Belgrade A
• Tel Aviv C
• Munich A

The ESL Final

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

The Top Five Speakers

• Catherine Murphy, TCD Hist B (768 speaker points)
• Jack Watson, Cambridge A (764)
• Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin, TCD Hist B (762)
• Harish Natarajan, Cambridge A (753)
• Ben Woolgar, Oxford A (749)

The Top Five ESL Speakers

• Sella Nevo, Tel Aviv A (723 speaker points)
• Omer Nevo, Tel Aviv A (721)
• Daniel Springer, Erasmus A (716)
• Jeroun Huen, Erasmus A (715)
• Ori Noked, Ben Gurion A (713)

VDCH teams’ Ranking

The ranking of the German and Austrian teams from under the umbrella of the Association of Debating Societies at universities (VDCH or Verband der Debattierclubs an Hochschulen) reads as follows:

• BDU A, John Eltringham and Cloud Ramasendaran, Berlin Debating Union (16 team points, 1348 speaker points, open ranking 51, ESL ranking -)
• BDU B, Dessislava Kirova and Juliane Mendelsohn, Berlin Debating Union (15, 1371, 57, 12)
• Tilbury House A, Lukas Haffert and Lyuba Ilieva, Tilbury House Köln (15, 1359, 59, 14)
• Munich A, Wladi Jachtschenko and Marco Witzmann, Debattierclub München (15, 1356, 61, 15)
• Gutenberg A, Marcus Ewald and Marietta Gädeke, Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg Mainz  (14, 1378, 71, 20)
• BDU C, Florian Umscheid and Niels Schröter, Berlin Debating Union (14, 1373, 74, 21)
• Stuttgart A, Andreas Lazar and Nils Haneklaus, Debattierclub Stuttgart (13, 1352, 82, 23)
• Aachen A, Marc-André Schulz and Anna Heynkes, Debattierclub Aachen (13, 1338, 101, 34)
• Potsdam A, Moritz Kirchner and Mathias Hamann, Wortgefechte Potsdam  13, 1336, 104, 37)
• Tuebingen B, Marie Rulfs and Konrad Gütschow, Streitkultur Tübingen (12, 1313, 128, 46)
• Wien A, Christoph Jäger and Leonhard Weese, Debattierklub Wien (12, 1307, 130, 47)
• Muenster A, Johannes Haug and Teresa Widlok, Debattierclub Münster (10, 1323, 149, 53)
• Tuebingen A, Philipp Stiel and Sarah John, Streitkultur Tübingen (10, 1314, 152, 56)
• Gutenberg B, Nicolas Eberle and Robert Lehmann, Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg Mainz (10, 1291, 157, 59)
• Stuttgart B, Sven Hein and Tom Hebel, Debattierclub Stuttgart (9, 1310, 163, -)
• Muenster B, Gerrit Gottschalk and Philipp Schmidtke, Debattierclub Münster (8, 1262, 171, 69)
• Wien B, Karoline Lutz and Regina Puthenpurayil, Debattierklub Wien (8, 1249, 172, -)

Außerdem traten in einem Team für die Sciences Po Nancy (ein Ableger der berühmten Pariser Hochschule für Politikwissenschaften) die beiden deutschen Redner Tobias Wekhof und Sebastian Meinhof an.

VDCH Speakers’ ranking

• Marcus Ewald, Gutenberg A (692 speaker points, open ranking 97, ESL ranking 15)
• John Eltringham, BDU A (687, 114, -)
• Niels Schröter, BDU C (687, 114, 21)
• Dessislava Kirova, BDU B (686, 119, 24)
• Marietta Gädeke, Gutenberg A (686, 119, 24)
• Florian Umscheid, BDU C (686, 119, 24)
• Juliane Mendelsohn, BDU B (685, 126, 27)
• Lukas Haffert, Tilbury House A (683, 132, 30)
• Wladi Jachtschenko, Munich A ( 678, 157, 41)
• Marco Witzmann, Munich A (678, 157, 41)
• Nils Haneklaus, Stuttgart A (677, 163, 45)
• Lyuba Ilieva, Tilbury House A (676, 167, 48)
• Andreas Lazar, Stuttgart A (675, 170, 50)
• Anna Heynkes, Aachen A (674, 173, 52)
• Moritz Kirchner, Potsdam A (672, 183, 56)
• Johannes Haug, Muenster A (665, 214, 72)
• Marc-André Schulz, Aachen A (664, 225, 79)
• Mathias Hamann, Potsdam A (664, 225, 79)
• Cloud Ramasendaran, BDU A (661, 237, -)
• Sarah John, Tuebingen A (661, 237, 88)
• Thomas Hebel, Stuttgart B (661, 237, -)
• Konrad Gütschow, Tuebingen B (658, 251, 97)
• Teresa Widlok, Muenster A (658, 251, 97)
• Marie Rulfs, Tuebingen B (655, 271, 109)
• Leonhard Weese, Wien A (655, 271, 109)
• Philipp Stiel, Tuebingen A (653, 285, 113)
• Christoph Jäger, Wien A (652, 287, 115)
• Sven Hein, Stuttgart B (649, 296, 119)
• Nicolas Eberle, Gutenberg B (648, 301, 122)
• Robert Lehmann, Gutenberg B (643, 313, 128)
• Gerrit Gottschalk, Muenster B ( 635, 326, 135)
• Philipp Schmidtke, Muenster B (627, 335, 143)
• Karoline Lutz, Wien B (627, 335, 143)
• Regina Puthenpurayil, Wien B (622, 341, -)

The EUDC Council

On Friday during the Galway Euros, the EUDC Council assembled and decided upon two major issues: The new EUDC Council president and the host of next year’s Euros. Well, we might have mentioned it on Achte Minute: The Serbian capital Belgrade was bidding for Euros 2012 …  and, yes, they got it. Everybody’s looking forward to EUDC in Belgrade. Cheers to Milan Vignjevic and his orgcomm!

And then there is the issue of EUDC Council presidency. Jens Fischer held that office for the past two years, since Worlds in Botswana he is also WUDC Council president and intended to step down from the EUDC Council. However, the EUDC constitution does not suggest how to not leave the office vacant after such a decision. Hence, Jens did not step down. But now, the EUDC Council is chaired by a new president: Steven Nolan, DCA at Galway Euros and deeply committed to debating. Good luck, Steven!

Oh, and the judges…

… unfortunately we cannot present a full list of all judges who broke at Galway Euros since it is not yet available. Check back later!

A very short history of EUDC

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, in Galway it was 180 teams. Format has ever since been British Parliamentary Style(BPS), language of debate is English. Debaters from all over Europe as well as from Israel and Qatar take part in Euros and compete with each other in two categories: the open break (mostly for native speakers) and “English as a Second Language” (ESL).There is a good chance a team may break in the two categories as happened to be the case with Tel Aviv A this year: They broke first in the ESL break and sixth in the open break.

Current champions are Ben Woolgar and Hugh Burns (Oxford), ESL champions are Sella and Omer Nevo, two brothers from Tel Aviv University. This year’s Euros were held in Galway, located at the western coast of Ireland, from 7 to 13 August. Chief adjudicator was Ruth Faller (Ireland), her deputies wereShengwu Li (Singapore), Simone van Elk (The Netherlands), Steven Nolan (Ireland) and Yoni Cohen Idov (Israel). Isabelle Loewe from Debattierclub Bonn and Tony Murphy (Ireland) served as equity officers. Galway’s tabmaster was Harry McEvansoneya, an Irish as well. During the Euros, the EUDC Council assembled and decide for instance about the host of next year’s championship. Belgrade (Serbia) was assigned hosting the European Universities Debating Championships 2012.

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