On the same day, a debate was held in the European Parliamentary Association in Strasbourg, with the participation of the historian and director of the Czech Center in Paris, Mr Jiří Hnilica, called “La Création de la Tchécoslovaquie et Français Français”. Mr. Jiri Hnilica talked about important events that influenced the process of the emergence of the Czechoslovak Republic, with an emphasis on the essential role played by France in this process. In addition, the discussion was devoted to various stages of development of Czechoslovakia until its dissolution in 1993. After the debate a presentation of selected letters written by Václav Havel from prison to his wife Olga between 1979 and 1983 (issued in the form of a samizdat entitled Letters to Olga) was made by a French actor and art director of Théâtre Lumière, Mr. Christophe Feltz. He and his colleagues also performed the “Audience” by Václav Havel on 8 October 2018 in Strasbourg on the occasion of the evening in honor of Václav Havel and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe´s Václav Havel Human Rights Prize, handed over the same day to its 2018 laureate.

Speeches on the inauguration of the joint exhibition by the Secretary General of the CoE and Czech and Slovak Ambassadors

Debate in European Parliamentary Association with historian Mr. Jiří Hnilica 

from left to right: the President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities H.E. Ms Gudrun Mosler-Törnström, the Chair of the Committee of Ministers and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Croatia H.E. Ms Marija Pejčinović Burić, Czech Ambassador to the CoE H.E. Mr. Emil Ruffer, Secretary General of the Council of Europe H.E. Mr. Thorbjørn Jagland, Ambassador of Slovakia to the CoE H.E. Mr. Marek Eštok and the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe H.E. Ms. Liliane Maury Pasquier