On September 2, I spoke about how Estonia's greatest treasure is its people. And so it is. We must do everything possible to ensure that there are many people to carry on the Estonian language and culture. To make Estonia the best place to raise children and grow old, to invent and create, to pursue science and do business. To ensure that our children are among the smartest, most well-balanced and happiest in the world. And that the joy of living does not fade later in life, amid the responsibilities of work and family or because of age or health.
Pristine nature, rustling forests. The sea, lakes and rivers. Birds and animals. Plants, mushrooms and bees. Fish and dragonflies. Just one generation from now, the natural world here will be an even greater wonder than it is today. If only we know how to preserve it. Estonia is already one of the most pleasant places in the world to live. Mosquitoes, puddles, good and bad skiing weather included.
Everyone here in Estonia must be able to feel that they themselves, as well as their lives, work and creations, are valuable. That there is plenty of room for all of us, different as we are. With our own interests, views, lifestyles, tastes and native languages.
High culture and pop culture, alternative culture and the underground, the whole colorful spectrum. Rehearsing for the Song and Dance Celebration does not interfere with hip-hop or a midnight rave and vice versa! Estonia is free, exciting, vibrant, evolving and diverse.
Can we preserve such an Estonia and continue building it? I believe that depends on trust, hope for the future and courage.
Perhaps we do not notice it every day or have forgotten, but in most parts of Estonia, kindness, honest work, common sense and helping one another are still held in high regard. A neighbor helps pull a car out of the snow, an elderly person shivering at a bus stop is offered a ride and gets where they need to go, someone else's children get a ride home from practice along with one's own, fresh cucumbers and tomatoes are hung on a neighbor's door handle or apples are left out for anyone to take. Let us notice these things, appreciate them and do our part.
Unfortunately, in my work as chancellor of justice, I saw far too often how someone gives their best, dedicates themselves to helping others, but does not receive the same consideration in return. Yet they could. They should.
Take, for example, a mother who, through circumstances beyond her control, is raising a child alone, working, studying for a profession that society badly needs and volunteering wherever she can. Yet when she herself needs help, she all too often encounters bureaucratic obstruction and cold arrogance in seeking support.
My colleagues and I at the Office of the Chancellor of Justice always stood against soulless bureaucratic procedures wherever we encountered them. What is the point of a system in which officials can shrug their shoulders and coldly declare that "clients did not receive the service," rather than recognize that a child and their mother were left without help?
Fortunately, there are people who find solutions. But do we know how to recognize and appreciate them for it?
Take a police officer who saves the life of a child speeding along on a battery-powered scooter, only to hear the parent respond with ... I will not even repeat it. How can anyone believe that a highly trained officer leaves their family to go to work in the evening simply to harass law-abiding people?
Or a teacher who cares deeply about their students, looks for opportunities to help them spread their wings, comes home in the evening, opens their computer — and there it is! No, not messages of gratitude.
We need much more trust and warm appreciation. Doctors, journalists, police officers, teachers, farmers — each of us, in our respective professions, is a trained specialist doing our best. And trust really must be earned. By genuinely doing our best. All of us, in our lives and work.
The attempts of the past decade to remake people, to prescribe how they should live, think, feel or speak have inevitably undermined mutual trust. We have learned that lesson. Now we must rebuild trust.
For people who have experienced occupation, ideological propaganda of any kind provokes contempt, which can drive even the best of people to write or do things they would otherwise never even consider. And to vote against everything simply for the sake of it. Eventually, resentment translates into election results.
Everyone has the right to vote exactly as they see fit. That is what elections are for. What matters most is that people do not stop voting altogether, that they do not fall silent, become indifferent or withdraw from life entirely.
Indifference is an enemy of a free democratic society, as are the loss of hope for the future and sheer noise. The rule of law rests not only on legislation but also on trust and the knowledge that the rules apply to everyone and that people are treated fairly. Let us not allow ourselves to be turned against one another here in our own corner of the world, among our own people. There should be as few people as possible who feel so bad — perhaps with good reason — that they are prepared to tear things down, because we need to build the future.
If you want peace, prepare for ... you know the rest. Peace must be preserved. Everyone can play a part in that.
The first step is to maintain peace of mind. There is far too much fear of war in the air. Whenever I come away from a discussion of the actual security situation, assessed on the basis of facts, I feel much calmer than I do after reading deliberate fearmongering. Of course, I know that politics or business interests lie behind it. But still.
Yes, the world around us is unpredictable and dangerous. Of course it is. I understand the concern and I worry too. A global crisis of trust? That is true as well. Ukraine must be supported in every conceivable way so that the war of aggression against it ends and a lasting, just peace is achieved. So that war criminals are punished and the aggressor pays for the damage. We must convincingly demonstrate around the world that international law, a rules-based international order and the protection of human rights benefit most countries and all people.
Estonia has worked diligently to make itself stronger. The Estonian Defense Forces, the Estonian Defense League, the Women's Voluntary Defense Organization. Our entire system of comprehensive national defense. Our committed neighbors in the Baltic and Nordic countries. Poland. All our allies in Europe and NATO. All of this is what makes us secure.
Please, let us not allow fear or hopelessness into our hearts. Fear paralyzes us or drives us to do foolish things. We must act wisely. And everyone has an opportunity to do so. I dare to assure you that the future is neither bleak nor predetermined. We are building it ourselves. In times of uncertainty, we must recognize the great opportunities before us and make skillful use of them.
We also need more humor and lightness in general. And something to sustain our spirits.
Culture cannot be treated as something that comes after everything else. Culture sustains and supports us, comforts us, broadens our horizons, warns us, cleanses the dark corners of the human soul and helps us become better people. Let us not miss out on cultural events close to home. Let us make them inviting and accessible to children and young people, as well as to those who have little money or difficulty getting around.
Let us appreciate our writers, filmmakers, theater professionals, artists, designers and museums — both new creations and our heritage. Let us always take an interest in how other peoples live and in their cultures. When I am abroad, I try to visit a museum or church, even if only briefly.
And let us make ourselves visible: exhibitions by Estonian artists around the world, our magnificent orchestras and choirs, theatrical performances, novels, medals won at sporting competitions — all of it matters. So do scientific research and inventions that make their way into production, as well as collaborative projects. Bold and trustworthy entrepreneurship. Technology companies, startups, agricultural businesses and the defense industry, of course. But not only those!
These days, it is a major achievement when an entrepreneur can produce something distinctive and of very high quality, at a reasonable price and in an environmentally responsible way and deliver the products on time. Not just here in Estonia, but anywhere in the world.
Estonia's trump card is education. We know it ourselves and so does the entire educated world, but we must work harder to ensure that every child in Estonia receives a good education and has ample opportunities. This must not depend on whether a child attends a small rural school or one in Tallinn's residential districts, whether they live with their parents, a foster family or in a children's home or whether they are still learning Estonian. Estonia's future depends on a good education for all its children.
The AI Leap initiative in schools, launched under the leadership of President Alar Karis, deserves recognition and continuation. The future belongs to those who know how to use artificial intelligence wisely while remaining free and capable as human beings. The leap that has begun must aim as far as possible. And always in such a way that AI does not become an "ow!"
Technology must not make us forget that people also need to be able to manage on their own. Excessive dependence on technology and electricity is dangerous for everyone, everywhere. All it takes is a storm or a thief to land us in serious trouble. Let us remain resilient.
Estonia's Minister of Justice and Digital Affairs Liisa Pakosta is leading an international discussion on establishing regulations for artificial intelligence. Estonia is exactly the country that should be taking the lead. We have extensive experience as a digital state and a complicated history. We know how to understand other peoples and countries around the world and perhaps they can understand us as well.
The digital divide does not exist or deepen only within societies, where in some places it is causing ever greater poverty, suffering and resentment with each passing year or even month. That is why we need an agreement that artificial intelligence must also be accessible to smaller and poorer countries and that AI must serve humanity, not the other way around.
To protect the Estonian language and culture, and all small nations and cultures, we must ensure that they are properly and accurately represented in artificial intelligence models.
Armies of bots serving the interests of an aggressor state are vigorously spreading falsehoods and teaching artificial intelligence to lie and ultimately those lies will harm everyone. Countries that wish to remain sovereign and independent should have a vital interest in combating hostile propaganda.
The president cannot and must not take the place of the popularly elected Riigikogu, the government or the courts. The separation and balance of powers is of great value. The president has an important role in maintaining that balance.
The date for a meeting of the National Defense Council, as provided for in the Constitution, has already been set. I would take the saying "Train hard, fight easy" a step further: If the training is exceptionally rigorous, there will be no battle at all. And that, after all, is our goal.
We could begin combating a lack of ideas and growing uniformity here at home by encouraging bold thinking and dreaming. The president's think tank is one place for that. Thinking together, debating and sharing humor bring out the best in people, from academics to schoolchildren. That is how new ideas are born.
The president can recognize and support everyone working to ensure that families have places to live and raise children, that the birth of a child does not lead to financial hardship and that someone who wants to build a home in the countryside can also obtain a loan. Let making Estonia a child- and family-friendly country become an issue in the upcoming elections and every election thereafter. Not by backing anyone into a corner or putting them on the defensive, but by cheerfully showing how well things can be done.
Perhaps we also need a Tiger Leap in mental health. Yes, of course we need more psychologists and psychiatrists, greater recognition of individual differences and more consideration for them. But we also need to eliminate unnecessary pressures that are breaking more and more people.
Excessive and destructive competitiveness, pulling one another down, noise, harassment, injustice, loneliness, overwhelming fear and anxiety and hopelessness are not inevitable features of life. I will do my best to help us find the courage. Because why be unhappy and lose when it is possible to be happy and win?
The president can help make the voices of people heard more clearly — what troubles them, what they expect and what they hope for — in Võrumaa and Virumaa, Mehikoorma and Häädemeeste, Saaremaa and Hiiumaa, Paide and Põltsamaa and everywhere that local communities are working hard to keep life from moving away, to ensure that farms flourish, that tourism and business in general develop and that it remains worthwhile for successive generations to make an effort.
The money needed to sustain our free Estonian state can come only from a strong and adaptable economy. So let us give entrepreneurs the freedom to act. We do not need all-encompassing convenience that makes people lazy and helpless. We do not need orders, prohibitions, unnecessary bureaucracy or overseers everywhere, stifling creativity and initiative. The head of state can remind people of that, too. In the form of a veto, if necessary.
I will take time to meet people from different walks of life in different parts of Estonia. To listen to them, share their concerns and joys and try to understand. And then to carry their message forward. My colleagues and I will be seen in gardens, factories, barns, company brainstorming spaces, schools, nursing homes, village squares, hospitals, city streets and other places where everyday life unfolds. I am afraid I will not be able to attend ceremonial events as often as I should and I ask for your understanding.
I hope to maintain regular contact with members of the Riigikogu, the prime minister and ministers and the heads of constitutional institutions, understanding and respecting their respective roles. Here, too, trust, respect for one another's dignity and working together for Estonia's future and the benefit of everyone living here are what matter.
I have said repeatedly and I will say it again: All our previous heads of state have been the right people in the right place at the right time and have made Estonia better and greater. Thank you very much! Thank you, President Alar Karis. I would also like to thank Mrs. Sirje Karis in particular. Her work for Ukrainian children alone deserves the highest recognition.
As I continue the work of my predecessors, I feel a profound sense of humility and responsibility.
If we trust one another, value freedom, responsibility and clear communication, have the courage to be good people, trust in life, believe in Estonia and maintain a hopeful outlook, all good things are possible.
Long live Estonia!
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