This weekend a big experiment started. Seven countries, seven capitals, seven tournaments, one league: The Debating League of Europe.  With the DLE, the European debating circuit could get what the circuit has almost become already anyway: A cohesive debating scene where debaters from all over Europe regularly meet and mingle. The League provides a common framework for keeping track of results of chosen tournaments across Europe to find a winner at the end of a season. The rule is simple: The biggest tournament of the capital of a country is eligible. The DLE is open for participation for every debating society ...

Have you ever been to Utrecht? Well, you should! Here's your opportunity: The UCU Open 2012! The Tournament will be hosted  for the third time by the Dutch University College Utrecht (UCU) Debating Union on November 2 and 3. Registration opens on september 1st. More information is available on the UC U Debating Society's homepage , on Facebook and via ucuopen@gmail.com. Facts and figures: UCU Open 2012, Utrecht November2. and 3. English, BPS CAs: Danique van Koppenhagen and Harish Natarajan, DCAs Manos Moschopoulos and Michael Shapira fee: 50 Euros per team, adjudicators free

Assume you receive an email on a Monday at about 1am offering you a team slot at a good tournament in the Netherlands, which starts off 4 days later. What would you do? The correct answer is looking up a flight of course. At for Melanie Sindelar and Stefan Zweiker who confirmed the slot immediately and thus hopped over to the Dutch Debating Open in Leiden, Netherlands (30th to 31st March 2012). Whether the trip was worth the flight and how Dutch the Dutch Debating Open really were can be read in this article. Debates. [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Later Winner Arielle Dundas ...

Debating at the Dutch Open: From 30 to 31 March, the Erasmus Debating Union of Leiden is host to up to 52 teams. 50 Euros per team for five prelims, 7-minutes-speeches, break to semis, a novice final, meals on Friday and Saturday, two socials and crash - plus, judges go free! Apropos judges: As usual, the n-1 rule applies. The chief adjudication team is formed by Rogier Baart (WUDC ESL finalist), Becky West (EUDC semi-finalist), Steph Bell (WUDC finalist) and Marcus Ewald (EUDC ESL quarter-finalist). Register now via Google Spreadsheet - don't wait longer than 1 March! More details are available ...

The UCU Open fits into the series of tournaments in the coming debating season. Hosted already for the second time by the Dutch University College Utrecht (UCU) Debating Union on November 4 and 5, this Open will be "bigger and " according to the org com. Convenor Marlies Hombergen and her team offer five prelims, a semifinal and a final. Registration has already opened (n-1 applies). CA  the ESL world champion Anne Valkering (ASDV Bonaparte), reg fee is €25. Crash accommodation will be provided both from Friday to Saturday and from Saturday to Sunday. More information is available ...

Erasmus of Rotterdam is the eponym for EU's student exchange programme - and for the Erasmus Debating Society (EDS) of Rotterdam's university. Study and debate go together fine, even more so with the Dutch Anglo-Saxon Parliamentary Debating Institute (DAPDI) in Rotterdam where debaters from all over Europe assemble from July 25 to 29 to do training and competition. Just before Galway Euros, it is going to be a perfect opportunity to exercise for the great European tournament, Luciën de Bruin from EDS promises: “It features three days of workshops by top-notch Oxford trainers we’re flying in, including a ...

Becky West and Rogier Baart from the Leiden Debating Union won the Jacobs Open 2011. Their team Stop trying to make 'fetch' happen as Opening Opposition defeated three other teams from the Netherlands: Jeroen Heun and Daniël Springer (Erasmus Rotterdam), Setry Rabejaona and Liva Andersone (Erasmus Rotterdam) and Danique van Koppenhagen and Tomas Beerthuis (Utrecht Debating Society). Best final speaker as well as top of the tab was Daniël Springer. The tab of the Jacobs Open 2011 is online. All motions of the Jacobs Open at a glance: Round 1: This house would abolish monarchies. Round 2: This house believes that professional sports people ...

This weekend, VDCH debaters took part in tournaments in Stuttgart and Leeds. On top of that, our neighbors in the Netherlands have also been competing at a tournament. Three tournaments, three CA teams, three languages. Find all motions of this weekend here. Additionally, we kindly ask you, our much appreciated readers, to do us a favor: Which motion did you find the most interesting, the best to debate, the most exciting? Which one did you think was no good idea? Please do not hesitate to leave your comments below and vote for your favorite motion. ...

The team Do not disturb! Seriously!, comprising of Anne Valkering from Amsterdam and Jens Fischer from Berlin won the UCU Open 2010. The competition was held on October 22 and 23 at the University College Utrecht, 36 teams competed over five prelims. Further teams in the final were PTB I (Sam Block and Maddie Grieve), Hot like Mexico, Enjoy (Vignesh Ashok and John Ashbourne) and Erasmus A (Lucien de Bruin and Daniël Springer). Into the semifinal had also progressed the teams The Real Real Deree (Chris Papadopoulos and Sophia Simunec), Erasmus C (Setry Rabejaona and Milen Petkov), Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ...

Steffy Roos du Maine, ESL finalist at this years euros not only impresses with intelligent analysis and rhetoric skills but also scores in other fields: As a fan of "fashion, beauty, feestjes, cocktails, pink en mijn vriendinnen" the 23 year old candidates under the slogan "Steffy for World Peace" for the title of "Miss Universe". You may find more about "Missy Steffy" on her web page, her facebook profile and ready the article "Beauty in Nacht van der Vrede" on Metroniews (in Dutch). glx / law

Photos and reports of the EUDC 2010 – here you get the links and insights into the tournament! ...

There is an official version of the tab, by now you can find the ESL Final online, and so on… Here comes a bunch of links that recall the European Universities Debating Championship (EUDC)! ...

Nils Haneklaus and Michael Saliba (both from the debate club Debattierclub Stuttgart) made the break at the DAPDI (Dutch Anglo-Saxon Parliamentary Debating Institute) in Rotterdam – but left the venue before the final rounds took place in order to participate at the Tilbury House Sommer Open.  The DAPDI takes place in Rotterdam every year. There were three days of debate seminars first, an exercise tournament followed (especially to prepare for the EUDC in Amsterdam). The boys from Stuttgart made a blog entry on the DAPDI (in German) and left only positive reference: “What could we get out of DAPDI? A lot, since on ...

Achte Minute interviewed participants of Amsterdam EUDC 2010 and now proudly presents the official Achte Minute video on EUDC 2010. Have fun! Achte Minute is the German and German-speaking debaters' online magazine.

Achte Minute scanned the tab distributed after the grand final. You can now find the EUDC 2010 Team Tab and the EUDC 2010 Speaker Tab online. Surely the tabs will be published officially soon. Top Ten Speaker: 1. Fred Cowell, ULU B (London) 2. Sam Block, Manchester A 3. Jack Watson, Cambridge A 4. Thomas Hosking, Oxford A 5. Harish Natarajan, Cambridge A 6. Gregg O'Neill, TCD Phil A (Dublin) 7. Rosie Unwin, ULU B (London) 8. Ben Woolgar, Oxford A 9. Daniel Swain, Team Australia (no break permission) 10. Kelly Butler, Team Australia (no break permission) Top Ten Speaker ESL: 1. Jeroen Heun, Erasmus A (Rotterdam) 2. Daniel Springer, Erasmus A (Rotterdam) 3. David ...

In the interview series “EUDC talk” we met David Lamouroux and Gabor Stefan of Debattierclub Georgia Augusta Göttingen. They told us about the EUDC break, teamplay and debating addiction. Achte Minute: Hello David, hello Gabor! You've broken to ESL quarter finals. Congratulations for that, first of all. Gabor: Thank you! I was totally surprised that it worked out so well. Achte Minute: Gabor, this was your first EUDC participation. You're already well known on the German circuit. What was it that surprised you the most on the international circuit? Gabor: I've already been to the Durham Open three weeks ago and last weekend ...

The European Champions 2010 are Ljubljana (Maja Cimerman, Filip Muki Dobranic) and King's Inn, Dublin (Eoghan Casey, Patrick Rooney). Congratulations! The Motions were: ESL: This House believes that even in response to the most serious crimes a just penal system should have no consideration for society's desire for retribution. Open:  This House believes that after a humanitarian intervention has halted human rights abuses the occupation forces should leave if the population clearly establishes this as their wish. Stay tuned - EUDC reports to follow soon!

The EUDC finalists are (ESL) Athens A (Manos Moschopoulos, Kimon Ioannides) Galatasaray A (Istanbul, Leyla Orak, Engin Arikan) Kalliope A (Groningen, Steffy Roos du Maine, Floor de Koning) Ljubljana A (Maja Cimerman, Filip Muki Dobranic) (Open) Cambridge A (Harish Natarajan, Jack Watson) Kings Inn A (Dublin, Eoghan Casey, Patrick Rooney) Oxford A (Ben Woolgar, Thomas Hosking) Oxford B (Hugh Burns, Neil Dewar) The European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC) 2010 are held in Amsterdam from July 12 to July 17. The tournament's slogan is “Spread the love”. The motions and more infos around the tournament can be seen on Twitter, look for hashtag #EUDC.

At a glance: Quarters' and Semis' Motions of Amsterdam EUDC 2010! Open Quarters: This House would prohibit gay pride parades in countries or areas where there is a risk of violent backlash against those involved. ESL Quarters: This House would extend the full protections of international law to guerilla fighters, insurgents and terrorists. Open Semis: This House believes that the state should determine the wages to be payed (in both private and public sectors) for jobs deemed of moral value or societal importance. ESL Semis: This House would grant higher primates rights equivalent ...

In the interview series “EUDC talk” we met EUDC's convenor Anne Valkering. She told us about preperations for and the execution of the tournament and her own plans for the time after the EUDC. ...

At a glance: Open and ESL Break to Semis of Amsterdam EUDC 2010! Sarah Jaglitz and Rafael Heinisch of Greifswald A made it to Semis!!! ESL Break to Semis: Athens A (Manos Moschopoulos, Kimon Ioannides) Babes-Bolyai A (Cluj-Napoca, Radu Cotarcea, Bianca Dragomir) Erasmus A (Rotterdam, Jeroen Heun, Daniel Springer) Galatasaray A (Istanbul, Leyla Orak, Engin Arikan) Greifswald A (Sarah Jaglitz, Rafael Heinisch) Haifa B (Michael Shapira, Meir Yarom) Kalliope A (Groningen, Steffy Roos du Maine, Floor de Koning) Ljubljana A (Maja Cimerman, Filip Muki Dobranic) Open Break to Semis: Cambridge A (Harish Natarajan, Jack Watson) Kings Inn A (Dublin, Eoghan Casey, Patrick Rooney) TCD Hist B (Dublin, Ruth Fallner, Catherine Murphy) TCD Phil B (Dublin, ...

At a glance: Main Break and ESL Break of Amsterdam EUDC 2010! Teams from Greifswald, Göttingen and Köln are going to compete the quaters of Amsterdam EUDC 2010: Sarah Jaglitz and Rafael Heinisch (DC Greifswald), David Lamouroux and Gabor Stefan (DC Göttingen) and Bianca Sterly and Sebastian Hagemann (Tilbury House Köln). As adjudicator of "VDCH country" broke Alena Asyamova, Jens Fischer and Isabelle Loewe. Congrats! Full ESL Break: Erasmus A (Rotterdam, Jeroen Heun, Daniel Springer) Kalliope A (Groningen, Steffy Roos du Maine, Floor de Koning) Babes-Bolyai A (Cluj-Napoca/Klausenburg, Radu Cotarcea, Bianca Dragomir) Ljubljana A (Maja Cimerman, Filip Muki Dobranic) Greifswald A (Sarah ...

In the interview series “EUDC talk” we met Daniel Schut of Amsterdam's famous debating society Bonaparte. He told us of his speaker job at Amsterdam EUDC and his loss to a German team four years ago. ...

On Wednesday, Amsterdam saw the second four of eight preliminaries of the EUDC. Tonight, participants eagerly expect the announcement of the break: Which teams are going to make it into the final rounds? Motions of the preliminaries five to eight: ...

In the interview series  “EUDC talk” we met Lukas Haffert of the Swiss DebatingClub St. Gallen who told us about his first EUDC debate where he spoke twice. ...

Achte Minute invites you to get to know some participants of the European Universities Debating Championship 2010. Therefore, during the EUDC-days we'll have the series of interviews "EUDC talk". Here we get in contact with debaters from all over Europe - whether participating as adjudicators, speakers or organisers. We start with interviewing Marcus Ewald and Thore Wojke of German Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg Mainz (DCJG), who for the first time debate at EUDC - and count on irish luck. Achte Minute: Marcus, you have been German Champion in 2008 - will you be European Champion (ESL) in 2010? Marcus: Well, probably not. The ...

The Amsterdam Euros (EUDC) started with a kick-off event on Monday where ICC deputy prosecutor Fatou Bensouda talked about "Should we accept a war criminal’s offer for peace in exchange for amnesty?" A report on the public debate is available online on the EUDC blog. On Tuesday, Amsterdam saw the first four of eight preliminaries of the EUDC. Almost 200 teams compete for European Universities Debating Championship, among them 15 teams from VDCH: two each from Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Cologne (Tilbury) and Vienna, one each from Greifswald, Göttingen, Mainz, Potsdam and　St. Gallen. As is reported, they have good chances at breaking ...

The Internetblog "iDebate", an initiative of IDEA International Debate Education Association, provides streams of some preliminary rounds of EUDC 2010 in Amsterdam. Last updated by Tim Richter, Juli 14th, 2010, 12:51

As the EUDC organisational team informs, Luis Moreno Ocampo, chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC), will not attend tonight’s public debate in Amsterdam where he was expected as keynote speaker. Instead, the deputy prosecutor Fatou Bensouda is going to be present. She is in charge of all ICC prosecutions. The subject of the evening will be the same: “Should we accept a war criminal’s offer for peace in exchange for amnesty?” glx /apf

Achte Minute, the leading magazine on German and German-language debating, is now available in English! With the coming Tilbury House Summer Open in Cologne and the European Universities Debating Championships (EUDC) in Amsterdam we will start reporting bilingually. At least a summary of all German-language articles will be published in English too. Articles that are relevant beyond the German-speaking area will be published in both languages. The Achte Minute team members' mother tongue is not English and some minor bugs still cause a few minor technical problems with the changeover. Please excuse our possible language mistakes and technical errors - ...