No joke: You all have to re-register for Galway Euros, as convenor Nollaig O’Scannlainn revealed in a mail to the international debating community. During yesterday’s registration process the system failed, hence not everybody could register for this year’s European Universities Debating Championships. The order of registration cannot be guaranteed as of now. So in the interest of fairness, the registration will be repeated for all institutions on 2 March at 12 a.m. GMT, that is 1 p.m. in Berlin, 2 p.m. in Jerusalem and 3 p.m. in Moscow. Until then, the org comm ensure that problems like those of yesterday will not happen again. Nollaig repeated that all institutions will have to register again.

Nicolas Eberle from Debattierclub Johannes Gutenberg Mainz showed his understanding: “We were sorry to read that mail about the failing system. But I have been talking to other debaters who registered but did not get any confirmation mail. Of course they were sad – with that respect I think this the fairest solution possible,” he revealed to Achte Minute.

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 will be Equity Officer. During the Euros, the EUDC Council will sit and for instance decide about the host of next year’s championship. Currently, Belgrade (Serbia) and Leeds (Britain) are both bidding for staging the European Universities Debating Championships 2012.

apf / glx