Do European PhD programs offer the opportunity to take on teaching assistantship duties? I know that, in North America, the opportunity is given (and often mandated) to take on teaching assistantships while in a PhD program. 

I knew that, often, European PhD programs pay you to do RA from day one. But, in European PhD contracts/programs, are there countries, or universities even, that set conditions under which you have to TA? Or can you even TA in the first place?
But, in European PhD contracts/programs, are there countries, or universities even, that set conditions under which you have to TA? Or can you even TA in the first place?


The European universities I am well aware of generally don't distinguish that strongly between TAs and RAs. In reality, in my current university in Switzerland, the "formal" job title of each employed PhD student (which is to say, practically all of them) is German for "Teaching And Research Assistant". Everybody is expected to teach a little, and (clearly) everybody needs to conduct research, so this job title seems appropriate.

What courses each student is responsible for, and what they are expected to do, is typically assigned by the professor / lab head (sometimes after extensive negotiations / arguments within the group leading up to the start of the semester).

Typically, PhD students are expected to only "assist" in the running of a course done primarily by a designated lecturer ("Dozent") or professor. However, in practice, often a large part of the actual work is done by TAs. in my old university, it was also possible to essentially become a lecturer already during your PhD, and from then on do courses officially on your own, without involvement of a professor.

It is not possible to "take on" additional TA jobs to improve one's monetary situation (but then again, standard salary is already around 60.000 Swiss francs for a first-year student - other universities outside of Switzerland pay less, but still substantially more than the stipends that are common in other places of the world).