The Estonian representatives were selected in an internal competition held on 14 April. Sander Sagar and Indrek Paljak took part in the final stage at the University of Ljubljana, accompanied by Aive Pevkur, Katrin Arvola and Tairi Tuulik from the Department of Business Administration. In Slovenia, Aive Pevkur evaluated the teams and acted as a judge, Katrin Arvola moderated the debates and Tairi Tuulik was responsible for monitoring and reporting on the competition.

The student teams came from ten different countries, all of which had won their national preliminary round. In the final rounds, debates were held on ethical issues related to sport and economics – how much a footballer should be paid, whether participation in competitions should be banned for ethical reasons such as doping. In the semi-finals, there was a debate on whether the sponsoring company's field of activity should influence the sponsorship agreement.

The debates were of a high standard, the arguments and positions well thought out. The Estonian team received a lot of praise from the representatives of the other countries for their spirited performance. Estonia came fifth overall, missing out on the finals by just one point. France, Portugal, Bulgaria and Serbia reached the semi-finals. The theme of the final was betting in sport. Portugal and Bulgaria made it to the final, with Bulgaria coming out on top.

According to Katrin Arvola, it was interesting to observe how the different teams behaved in a competitive situation while moderating the debates. What was striking was the great respect for the opposing team and the referees, and the skilful way they supported each other and formulated a response in a time-pressured situation.

Aive Pevkur pointed to the difficulty of differentiating between teams, as often the teams had different strenghts. While some teams had a good division of roles, in other teams one person took the lead in the debate. If one team asked sharp and good questions, the other team found the weak arguments of the opposing team.

Even though the competition was intense and the students were in it to win, the atmosphere was very friendly and people cheered each other on. Sander summed up the competition this way: "Participating in the European Ethics Bowl competition provided a rich intellectual experience, with both parties trying to find common solutions to ethical challenges. The most memorable experience was the constructive debate between the rounds and the opportunity to build strong friendships with representatives from different European countries." Sander and Indrek would definitely recommend all ethics and debating enthusiasts to take part in next year's competition and put their argumentation skills to the test on a Europe-wide scale. On the spot, you will make new contacts, have a cultural experience, gain an interesting experience and add something useful to your CV.

The new season of the European Ethics Bowl will kick off at the beginning of the new year and the team representing Estonia will be selected in spring.

For more, follow https://europeanethicsbowl.eu