The Organising Committee is happy to announce that the motions for Heart of Europe 2020 are ready. This year the Motions Committee was composed of Martin Rezny on behalf of the Czech Debate Society, Laura Krawczyk, and Joram Wijnstra.
At HoEDT20, we will be having three prepared motions. Two of them for preliminary rounds, where each team debates each side of the motion, as proposition and opposition. We believe that this is a great learning opportunity which also leads to tolerance when debating the topic from both sides. The third motion is for the grand final debate, and since our tournament is called Heart of Europe, the topic is going to relate to an issue significant for Europe in 2020.
The remaining four preliminary rounds will be impromptu motions announced to the teams one hour before the debate begins, as well all the play-off debates (the octo-finals, quarter-finals, and semi-finals). We utilize a special system for impromptus.
There will be three motions available for each impromptu debate. We will let one team pick the motion while the other one picks the side. Since there are 4 impromptu rounds as usual every team should pick a motion twice and a side also twice.
When relevant: teams have one minute to choose a motion. One minute to choose a side. One minute to agree on a motion.
The prepared motions for 2020:
Qualifying rounds (swap sides)
THW not carry out preemptive strikes to eliminate a suspected threat to global security.
This is a classic law-meets-politics motion that is enjoyed at HoEDT. Article 2(4) of the UN Charter prohibits the use of force against another State, with an exception under Article 51 and Chapter VII. International law and international relations are unclear on the lawfulness of preemptive strikes, while the prior calls on the Caroline test criteria of necessity and proportionality. On the other hand, preemptive strikes are often considered to be necessary to prevent an outbreak of war, such as in the attack where Trump ordered a strike against Soleimani on January 3rd 2020. The question is, can preemptive strikes be justified not only in theory, but also in practice?
Qualifying rounds (swap sides)
THR Greta Thunberg.
Greta is a 17 year-old Swedish activist who rose to fame by striking against climate change in front of the Swedish Parliament instead of attending school. She is often credited for reviving the COP21 work. In 2019, she was named the Time’s Person of the Year. Her work has been met with mixed reactions from the US President Donald J. Trump, who tweeted: “Greta must work on her anger management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill!”, and the Russian President Vladimir Putin, who described her as a pawn who is being manipulated. Is Greta a climate change hero, or a kid wanting a break from school? Is she her own person, or doing the bidding of others?
Final
TH, as the EU, supports a universal basic income.
In 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. stated that a universal basic income (UBI) would abolish poverty. 53 years have passed and only a handful of countries have experimented with it since. The UBI is a universal unconditional periodic cash payment awarded to individuals with little to no requirements for receiving the money. There is a growing interest to implement the UBI in more countries, including Canada, Finland, and the Netherlands. Can this system put an end to poverty in the EU?