Opening the conference, Prof. János Lukács, Head of Department (Corvinus, Department of Accounting), said: “It is good to come together and remember someone who had been a teacher, colleague, friend and role model. He was marked by deep knowledge, humanity and dignity.” He added that the legacy of the former Department of Economic Law continues within the current institute. Lukács described the event as a family gathering and recalled the highlights of Sárközy’s career, from the Institute for Legal Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences to government service, the presidency of the Hungarian Lawyers’ Association, and even ice hockey. Although Sárközy later taught and established academic units at several universities and served as a rector, he always defined himself as a legal scholar and a lecturer at Corvinus. “His lively teaching style made him one of the most popular lecturers on campus. The students loved his unmistakable style.”, he said. 

Students sitting on the stairs 

Prof. Tamás Mészáros, rector emeritus (Corvinus, Institute of Entrepreneurship and Innovation), also recalled Sárközy’s remarkable popularity. His lectures drew such large crowds that “students would sit on the stairs of the main lecture hall”. Despite the many state awards he received, it was the appreciation of students that mattered most to him. His room displayed only the certificates they gave him. Mészáros highlighted the lasting impact of Sárközy’s work, saying he helped lay the foundations for Hungary’s economic and property transition. 

Prof. György Surányi, former central bank governor and lecturer (Corvinus, Institute of Finance), said he had been one of Sárközy’s students and that “they had all admired him”. In the 1980s, they worked closely together at the Financial Research Institute, spending their days thinking about how to restructure companies and banks., and later served as state secretaries in the Németh government, shaping the institutional framework of the modern economy. Although they did not agree on everything, mutual respect always guided their collaboration. Surányi said Sárközy’s absence still leaves a gap. 

Not thriving, but not close to a crisis either  

He then delivered a lecture on Hungary’s competitiveness. In his view, extreme narratives about the Hungarian economy are misleading: the country has developed significantly since the transition, but a slowdown in productivity has placed it among the laggards of the EU. While there is no crisis, Hungary is stuck in a low-growth trap. The shortage of skilled labour, the overly generous state subsidies and missing EU funds are all contributing factors. He added that the central bank has built up notable debt, though he welcomed its current focus on maintaining the stability of the forint. 

Prof. Attila Chikán, full member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and professor emeritus (Corvinus, Institute of Operations and Decision Sciences), also shared personal memories. He considered Sárközy’s most important achievement to be the development of legal frameworks for a market economy. Research on corporate competitiveness at Corvinus has long built on Sárközy’s work.  

Research on the competitiveness of Hungarian companies began in 1995 at the Department of Business Economics of the Budapest University of Economics. From the very start, staff from the predecessors of today’s Institute of Management and the Institute of Marketing and Communication Science took an active role. Building on these results, the Competitiveness Research Centre has organised and coordinated the research since 1999. Drawing on Prof. Attila Chikán’s earlier work, the Centre developed the corporate competitiveness index, which made it possible to measure and evaluate individual firms’ performance. 

Prof. Erzsébet Czakó, Co-Director of the Competitiveness Research Centre, also stressed that their current work still builds on Sárközy’s contributions. She highlighted digitalisation, sustainability and geopolitical issues as today’s key challenges. She added that companies now need the ability to adapt as a basic requirement. 

Summarising joint research with Prof. Chikán and Dávid Losonci, Research Director (Corvinus, Institute of Operations and Decision Sciences), she pointed out that two broad groups of firms can be seen: those falling behind, for whom everything is a struggle, and those that are resilient enough to hold their ground in the future. To close the presentation, Prof. Chikán outlined the findings of the 2025 Quick Report on the competitiveness of Hungarian companies, titled Confidence and adaptation on shaky ground. 

Accounting and competitiveness 

Dr. László Péter Lakatos, auditor, lawyer and head of institute (Corvinus, Institute of Accounting and Law), spoke about accounting as part of the information infrastructure that underpins competitiveness. He emphasised the need for a unified framework and regulation to ensure comparability of data. Audit today covers far more complex tasks than before, and accounting itself can actively contribute to firms’ competitiveness. 

Economic law in higher education 

Dr. János Verebics (ELTE GTK, Department of Management and Business Law) reviewed how economic law became a recognised discipline within Hungarian economics education. “The economic, Sárközy-style approach to law brought lasting change to Hungarian legal scholarship and legal education. Practice has confirmed the relevance of business law, but its high-level development and continuous improvement are unimaginable without strong academic foundations,” said János Verebics. 

After the short break, Dr. János Bánáti, honorary university professor, Co-Chair of the Hungarian Lawyers’ Association and Honorary President for life of the Hungarian Bar Association, shared his memories of Sárközy. He noted that a legal career can take many directions after the qualifying exam: some work in public administration, others in the judiciary, and many move into fields beyond traditional legal practice. There are excellent lawyers, legal scholars and sports leaders — and Tamás embodied all of these at once. He introduced entire branches of law in Hungary, and for economics students he was the face of the subject itself. 

He added that as a repeatedly re-elected president of the Hungarian Lawyers’ Association, Sárközy led the organisation in a spirit of openness and respect. His aim was to create a forum where everyone could express their views, yet still arrive at a shared position. He sought balance in every area of life, and he managed to achieve it. 

“AI can do it in five minutes…” 

Dr. Tibor Bogdán, the government commissioner responsible for measures aimed at strengthening the legal framework of economic competitiveness, spoke about the links between digitalisation and competitiveness. He examined how digitalisation is reshaping legal practice and outlined the state’s mandatory, recommended and potential tasks. He stressed that the state now has important responsibilities well beyond saving costs and shortening deadlines. Law must be able to respond to new challenges such as cryptocurrencies and digital money, which still lack proper regulation not only in Hungary but elsewhere too. 

He also pointed out that the legal system does not yet reflect the fact that data is an asset with real value. Since harm can be done in seconds in the digital world, sanctions must be fast and effective. Procedures and courts must be prepared to address or at least reduce damage within 24 hours. His talk included several practical examples, including electronic documentation and digital signatures. 

According to Bogdán, the state can actively support competitiveness through digitalisation, which is why the opportunities and risks of AI-based automated decision-making should also be examined — for instance in company formation and registration. Among the challenges facing the legal profession, he noted that digital systems can already replace much of the work done by trainee lawyers, and such tools are already in use in the United States and Western Europe. 

“In Tamás Sárközy’s work we learn that anyone dealing with economic law must understand the economy and speak the same language as those who shape the market,” said Dr Kinga Pázmándi, Associate Professor at ELTE GTK (Department of Management and Business Law), member of the presidency of the Hungarian Lawyers’ Association and Chair of its Commercial and Business Law Section. She called Sárközy’s codification legacy highly significant, describing him as someone who combined practical, systems-oriented legal thinking with academic rigour. “He was a genius in this,” she added. 

Pázmándi went on to speak about the challenges companies face today. She stressed the importance of implementing ESG requirements (Environmental, Social, Governance) across the board, and highlighted the need to establish and monitor a strong compliance culture within firms. “This means that a company’s operation can be threatened not only by activities that are illegal, such as corruption or money laundering, but also by behaviour that is morally or ethically unacceptable.” 

The final speaker, Dr Balázs Bodzási, notary public and Research Director of the Hungarian Lawyers’ Association, discussed the development of modern company law, focusing on the recognition of limited liability and separate legal personality. Referring also to János Kornai, he underlined the economic significance of limited liability. Among the issues in current company law, he examined in detail the questions arising around the inheritance of business shares in limited liability companies. He closed his talk by addressing the challenges facing legal education in Hungary. In his view, legal training should be far more practice-oriented than it is today. It would also be valuable for law students to have a solid understanding of legal and economic history, as it helps explain how legal institutions develop and why they are regulated in their current form. Company law is a good example of this. 

In his closing remarks, Prof. János Lukács shared personal stories and said that for him, Tamás Sárközy represented knowledge, humility in his work, constructive criticism, humour and dedication to students. 

Katalin Török