On Friday 27 April, the China EU School of Law (CESL) hosted its first debate titled: “Brexit, Frexit, Polexit… what should the future of the European Union be and who should decide on it?” It concerned the future of the European Union and four assistant professors of CESL, Nick Hallemeesch, Monika Prusinowska, Nicolas Soelter and Zurab Gvelesiani acted as debaters. The event was hosted by 2nd year student Wang Xiaotong.
In an Oxford-style debate, four assistant professors addressed two questions; whether the European Union is a good model for Europe; and whether the citizens of a particular country should decide if their country should leave the European Union or not.
At the start the host asked the audience to vote and take a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ position on both questions. Then debaters presented their individual arguments, which was followed by a round of feisty rebuttals and sur-rebuttals. After each of two rounds, the audience was asked to vote again to see if the debaters were able to sway them in any way. Finally, the host opened the floor for Q&As and many interesting issues were raised and addressed.
