Last week Thursday, April 28th 2022 St. Kilian’s German School and the Lycée français international Samuel Beckett (LFI) held their annual Elysée Treaty debate that is certainly one of the debating highlights of the school year. Three teams of senior cycle students from both St. Kilian’s and the LFI, came together for a joint debate in English, German and French simulating a European Committee meeting. As usual, this year’s motion ‘The EU needs its own Army’ reflected the current European context.
The debate was organised by Ms Jones and Mr Callan and was adjudicated by Herr Henneberg from the German Embassy, Madame Diallo from the French Embassy and Ms Golden, a former teacher at St. Kilian’s. Two teams proposed the motion, one opposed it but delivered an impressive level of debate and rebuttal of their opponents’ arguments and thus made it certainly very difficult for the adjudicators to decide on a winning team.
Congratulations to the winners, Daphné Aureau (LFI), Lina Abchouk (LFI), Dylan McGowan (St Kilian’s) and Thomas O’Grady (St Kilian’s) who successfully and convincingly defended the motion. All the students were commended for their outstanding performances especially those who were debating for the first time.
The Elysée Treaty Debate was initiated in 2013 in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the treaty of friendship signed between France and West Germany at the Elysée Palace in Paris. Since then it has evolved into an exciting annual project at senior level involving students from St Kilian’s and the Lycée français international Samuel Beckett. The debate is aimed at engaging pupils with real European issues and allows them to focus on Europe and their role as Europeans in the world today. The debate is held through the three languages of our Eurocampus: German, French and English. Representatives of the German and French Embassies are generally in attendance.
Thank you to the organising teachers and all students involved. Our gratitude also goes to both the German and French embassies for their support for this competition. We look forward to more debates in future and the continuation of this fantastic collaborative project at the Eurocampus.
