The Budapest City Assembly, led by Mayor Gergely Karácsony, had named the avenue after Horn, a one-time communist foreign minister who played a role in the dismantling of the Iron Curtain and then went on to head the Socialist government from 1994 to 1998.

However, that street naming 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.”

Horn was a significant figure in Hungarian politics during the latter years of the communist regime. Born in 1932, Horn joined the Hungarian Working People’s Party, the precursor to the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party (MSZMP), in 1954. He quickly rose through the ranks, becoming involved in the party’s foreign affairs, and served in various diplomatic posts. His experience in foreign policy and alignment with the reformist faction of the MSZMP made him a key player in Hungary’s gradual shift towards liberalization in the 1980s. Notably, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Horn played a crucial role in the events leading up to the dismantling of the Iron Curtain, particularly in his involvement with the opening of Hungary’s border with Austria in 1989.

However, his actions during the 1956 anti-Soviet revolutions remain controversial to this day. After the revolution broke out in October, Horn participated in the militia forces who were tasked with suppressing the uprising and restoring order.