On 5 September 2025, teaching commenced in the European and International Business Law LL.M. programme. The opening ceremony took place in the Faculty Council Room, where Associate Professor dr. habil. Éva Gellérné Lukács, Co-head of the EIBL LL.M. and Director of the Institute for Postgraduate Studies, Assistant Professor István Erdős, Co-head of the EIBL programme, and Evelyn Dosztár, the programme’s teaching coordinator, welcomed the enrolled students. A number of colleagues were present in person, while others – as this is a hybrid programme – joined online.

First, Assistant Professor István Erdős briefly introduced the history of ELTE University and the Faculty of Law. He emphasised that the students had now become members of the ELTE community and encouraged them to participate not only in teaching activities but also in the wider academic life of the university, including conferences, workshops, and other events. Detailed and up-to-date information on these matters is available on the ELTE Faculty of Law website, and the Institute for Postgraduate Studies also sends out separate invitations to the students.

Subsequently, Associate Professor dr. habil. Éva Gellérné Lukács expressed her pleasure that many students had chosen the programme, coming from a wide variety of countries. She highlighted that the group includes participants from Hungary, from EU member states such as Germany, Greece, and Slovakia, as well as from non-EU countries including Australia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, China, Georgia, Namibia, Russia, Serbia, and Turkey. She emphasised that this diversity is one of the programme’s greatest strengths, as it will enrich both the students’ studies and their personal experience at ELTE.

Associate Professor dr. habil. Éva Gellérné Lukács also emphasised that the EIBL LL.M. programme is built around two main pillars: European law and international business law. Students will learn how the EU internal market interacts with global commercial law, and how European integration relates to international legal frameworks. She noted that the subjects will encourage students to think both critically and creatively, and to consider legal rules in their broader economic and social context.

She presented the detailed annual plan of the EIBL LL.M. programme, including the curriculum for the Fall and Spring semesters, deadlines, the approved examination schedule, and the challenges related to the preparation of the master’s thesis. She emphasised that the Faculty Library provides remote access to virtually all major legal databases, ensuring that all students have the tools necessary to prepare for their courses and to conduct the research required for their final thesis on an equal footing.

Finally, she noted that students who achieve outstanding results have the opportunity to publish in the faculty’s foreign-language academic journal, Annales. This provides a chance to share research with the wider academic community and can be a valuable step in the students’ professional development.

The morning welcome session was followed in the afternoon and on the next day (Saturday) by teaching activities. On these two days, lectures were delivered by Professor Declan Walsh, Vice-Dean for Internationalisation at University College Cork, Ireland, and a recognized competition law expert, covering the following topics: “Optimum Enforcement of EU Competition Law against Cartels” and “Platform Markets, Fiscal State Aid and the Intersection of EU Law and Big Tech”. Additionally, Associate Professor dr. habil. Tamás Szabados, Vice-Dean for Research of the ELTE Faculty of Law, gave lectures presenting the concepts and framework of international business law.