Commemorating the 27th anniversary of the death of 1968 Prague Spring communist reform movement leader Alexander Dubcek on Thursday, Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini (Smer-SD) in a Facebook post called him an inspiration for efforts to carry out a "responsible change to move the country forward and make it an advanced and modern democratic state". Calling Dubcek a "giant of Slovak history", Pellegrini said that he understood the need to bring about a historic change in society based on democracy and freedom.