The inauguration took place on Tuesday 10th June at the invitation of Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament. During the ceremony Hannes Swoboda, President of the S&D Group, Udo Bullman, Head of the German Socialist delegation, Csaba Tabajdi, head of the Hungarian Socialist delegation and András Horn, grandchild of Gyula Horn paid tribute to Gyula Horn.
Beside many MEPs, László Andor, European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, Othmar Karas, EPP’s Austrian Vice-President, Astrid Lulling, EPP’s MEP from Luxembourg and Magda Kósáné Kovács, former Minister of Labour in the Horn Government also took part in the inauguration. At the end of the celebration, the Horn family presented the European Parliament with a piece of the Berlin Wall.
In his speech, President Martin Schulz emphasized Gyula Horn’s commitment to Europe, and his outstanding work towards the reunification of the European continent. Schulz declared, “Without Gyula Horn, it would have beeen impossible to re-unify Germany. He didn’t only reshape Hungary’s history, but also the surrounding countries”. Hannes Swoboda characterized the former Hungarian Prime Minister as a very determined European person. He stated, “Gyula Horn and Alois Mock, former Austrian vice-chancellor, cut together the Iron Curtain at the Hungarian-Austrian border. With this act, they ended Europe’s division. I think of him as a brilliant person, who managed to be a European, a democrat, and a proud Hungarian under every circumstances”. Udo Bullmann asked the Hungarians to retain Horn’s legacy, and keep on the democratic, European way, towards which he led Hungary.
Gyula Horn’s grandchild, András Horn, expressed his appreciation to the President of the European Parliament and to the Hungarian Delegation. He underlined that it was not only his grandfather’s, but the whole government’s merit. At the end, he said, “My grandfather didn’t really like these celebrations. If he were here today, he would thank everyone for their presence and then say: European socialist, get back to work!”
