Foreign Minister in Bologna honouring Dubcek

Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok (a SaS nominee) will open a ceremony on Tuesday at the University of Bologna, Italy, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birthday of Alexander Dubcek. The 1968 Prague Spring communist reform movement leader was awarded an honorary doctorate at the university 33 years ago. Former Italian prime minister and European Commission president Romano Prodi, head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Italy's Chamber of Deputies Piero Fassino, Rector of University of Bologna Giovanni Molari and Professor Emeritus of University of Bologna Guido Gambetta will also speak at the event. The participants will also be addressed by Korcok's Italian counterpart Luigi Di Maio, and former Italian president Giorgio Napolitano via a letter.
Alexander Dubcek (November 27, 1921 - November 7, 1992) was the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from January 1968 until April 1969. He was the symbol of a set of reforms known as the Prague Spring, which culminated in 1968. In August 1968, the democratisation process was forcibly halted by the invasion of the Soviet and allied armies. Dubcek was subsequently forced to resign due to pressure from the Kremlin. This event is described by historians as the beginning of the Normalisation process in the former Czechoslovakia. Following the 1989 Velvet Revolution, Dubcek became the chairman of the Federal Assembly.