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University Parliamentary Debating

World University Debating Championship

Regional Championships

Australasia  · Europe John Smith Memorial Mace  · North America

National Championships

Australia  · Canada  · Ireland

National Organizations

APDA  · CUSID English-Speaking Union  · NPDA

Styles

Australasian  · British Parliamentary

Lists of debaters

Global  · Canadian

Clubs

Cambridge  · Glasgow  · Otago Oxford  · UBC  · Cork  · Western Ontario TCD Hist.  · TCD Phil.

The European Universities Debating Championship (colloquially known as Euros or Europeans) is a regional equivalent to the World Universities Debating Championship (Worlds) held in British Parliamentary style.

Contents 1 Origin of the championships 2 Participants 3 The competition 4 The Council and the Committee 5 List of Championships 5.1 Future championships 5.2 Past championships 6 See also 7 External links

The championship's origins are murky, with an attempt to mirror Worlds for Europe in the hope of promoting debating in Central Europe in particular having had several false starts.

The championships as they are known today were first held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands at Erasmus University from the 8th to 11th of April 1999. Subsequent tournaments have been held in a similar time of year, although the competition is slightly longer to accommodate the growth of the tournament.

The competition started with 32 teams of two speakers entering but has now grown to over a hundred at subsequent championships, which entails about 250-300 speakers, judges and organisers. Institutions can enter more than one team based on the ability of the organisers to accommodate. Some institutions also enter separate societies which has proved controversial at times.

While the tournament's smaller size has attracted bids to host from institutions which would ordinarily be too small to attempt hosting Worlds, the 2005 host University College Cork had previously hosted Worlds in 1996.

The competition's supporters description of the tournament as "Europe's equivalent to Worlds" has proved controversial among those who consider the John Smith Memorial Mace to be the gold standard, despite that only teams from the British Isles may enter the latter.

Participating teams are drawn principally from European tertiary education institutions, although teams from the Middle East and central Asian institutions are eligible pending the formation of similar competitions in their regions. Students at the Inns of Court are also eligible subject to some conditions.

The competition has a main section of several rounds of debating after which the top 16 teams in cumulative score proceed to the elimination rounds. (The break.) A separate break of 8 teams is done for ESL teams who do not make the top 16.

The Europeans tournament of 1999 formed a Council from the countries represented at the tournament and drafted a Constitution to govern the tournament. Unlike Worlds' tiered voting structures, Europeans Council opted for a one member one vote system of governance, electing to choose equality of representation despite the limited exposure of some countries to British Parliamentary debating at that time for the purpose of encouraging their participation. The Council governs the Constitution and Rules of the tournament, as well as deciding on bids to host subsequent tournaments. At least two bids have been contested - in 2001, Haifa University defeated the University of Limerick and in 2005 Berlin University defeated Koç University.

The Committee is formed of a President (who also chairs Council), a Registrar and regional representation from Central & Eastern Europe, Northern & Western Europe, South-Eastern Europe and the Middle East, the Islands of the North Atlantic and the convener of the current championship and that for the following year. This committee discusses issues which arise during the time between annual Councils, although the distances involved mandate e-mail rather than in person discussions.

2007 - | Koç University Debate Club, Turkey

Year	Host	Main competition winner	ESL competition winner
1986	No information	Strathclyde University, Scotland	No information
1987	No information	No information	No information
1991	Copenhagen, Denmark	Oxford Union, England	No information
1992	Leiden University, The Netherlands	Oxford Union, England	No information
1993	Deree College, Greece	Bristol University, England	No information
1999	Erasmus University, The Netherlands	Oxford Union, England	Deree College, Greece
2000	Aberdeen University, Scotland	Oxford Union, England	Tartu University, Estonia
2001	University of Ljubljana*, Slovenia	Inner Temple, England	Erasmus University, The Netherlands
2002	Haifa University, Israel	Oxford Union, England	Hebrew University, Israel
2003	Zagreb University, Croatia	Bristol University, England	Erasmus University, The Netherlands
2004	Durham University, England	Utrecht University, The Netherlands	Interdisciplinary Center (Herzliya), Israel
2005	University College Cork, Ireland	Durham Union, England	Erasmus University, The Netherlands
2006	Berlin Debating Union	Oxford Union, England	University of Bonn, Germany

• The tournament was actually held in Portorož, on the Adriatic coast of Slovenia.

• List of debaters

• European Debating Council
• Europeans 1999 Website
• World Debating Website with results from past Europeans
• Official Site of the European Universities Debating Championship 2006
• Official Site of the EUDC@Koç University, İstanbul, 2007