An outstanding success for ELTE LAW students in France

The aim of the Academic Network on the European Social Charter (ANESC/RACSE) is to make the European Social Charter as widely known as possible, and to this end, it has been organising an English-French bilingual moot court competition for three years, which models a collective complaint procedure. The competition consists of a written and an oral section: participants must first prepare a collective complaint (for the “requesting” teams) or a memorandum (for the “responding government” teams) based on the European Social Charter, which they then defend at a “hearing” before the European Committee of Social Rights.

This year's competition focused on the evaluation of state responses to the housing crisis, and ELTE’s team worked on the issue from the perspective of the fictitious state (Vichtery). The oral round was held on 23 May 2025 in Rouen, France. The participating groups presented their arguments for 20 minutes each in English and French in front of the "Committee", first the team representing the petitioners, then the team representing the fictitious state, then for 3-3 minutes they had the opportunity to reflect on the arguments of the other team and answer the jury's questions about substantive law.

Our university's team was among the three winning groups (along with the teams of two Belgian universities), with Zita Hadfi winning the best oral presentation award. The Hungarian team was made up of Botond Czifra, Zita Hadfi and Kíra Varga, and was prepared by professor Dr. István Hoffman. 

The team was supported by Lichy Law Firm and the Frank Ignác Foundation.