Government office: Court rules naming of Horn Gyula Avenue unlawful

The Budapest city assembly’s naming of the avenue after Horn, a one-time Communist foreign minister who then went on to head the Socialist government from 1994 to 1998, is now null and void, the statement said.

Citing the law on local councils, the statement added that “no public area or public institution may bear the name of a person that participated in the founding, development or maintenance of despotic political regimes of the 20th century.”

The Budapest district council should have sought the position of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences after concerns were raised that the naming of the avenue could break the law. After the Budapest local council failed to seek the academy’s position on the matter, despite a warning from the government office, the latter turned to the Budapest-Capital Regional Court in April 2023, the statement noted.