The Estonian president, Alar Karis, said in his speech on 20 August 2024 – on the 33rd anniversary of the restoration of Estonian independence – that there is no room for frightened self-limitation when defending the future of the free world, adding that not all opportunities for supporting Ukraine and isolating the aggressor on the world stage have been expended yet.
Thirty-three years ago, a dream became reality as Estonia regained its independence. Our own state. On this anniversary of liberation, I wish to call on every compatriot to appreciate that as a nation of only one million, we have managed to accomplish great things – in science, culture, athletics, the economy – and to restore our statehood. We have remained unwavering and steadfast despite every possible concern, be it in regard to security, economics, tax increases or other challenges.
In the autumn of 1991, we looked back into the distant past, towards the earlier Republic of Estonia, but we also peered into the future to ask what part of our heritage was worth reviving and maintaining as a lasting value. What was to be the nature of the Estonian state that we restored? The past, present, and future interwove in that question of all questions.
When the Estonian state was born, its founders expressed an unshakable will to create a country grounded in justice, law and freedom. After many long years of occupation, we placed freedom first above everything else because we had come to understand something crucial: in a state without freedoms, justice becomes a hollow word and laws merely a means of control.
The Republic of Estonia’s restoration was simultaneously a strengthening and a development of that state – so said our new constitution. We also face that task today: to strengthen and develop a state founded on liberty, justice and the rule of law. Those words define Estonia’s character and essence. We must consider the degree of attention that those three fundamental values demand of us now.
Parents expect a child-friendly Estonia
According to writer Valdur Mikita’s fanciful explanation, the Estonian word tähelepanu, “attention”, dates to the age of ancient seafaring when ships were steered towards a star, täht, and more specifically, to the North Star.
Liberty, justice and the rule of law are our Polaris, and steering towards them will always help guide Estonia to safe waters.
We cannot escape the birth rate’s spiralling decline without liberty, either. One can, of course, claim that a vigorous nation will persevere, and that we should allow people to decide for themselves how many children they want to have, because compulsion and shame will not lead to more. As a father and a grandfather, I truly don’t wish to make such a personal decision for anyone else. Nevertheless, I know that in addition to love, the choice can be influenced by one’s overall confidence and quality of life, the opportunity to choose both career and family, sufficient income, access to quality childcare, affordable housing, inexpensive extracurricular activities, and reliable childcare subsidies that aren’t diminished by constant talk of their reduction.
That being said, present and future parents expect first and foremost a child-friendly Estonia, which must be an effort made by society as a whole. Children are desired in a child-friendly Estonia, and a desired child is the happiest child.
Today, many see the government as a nemesis wearing down the nation. It is a dangerous development that cannot simply be written off as a misjudgement. People want to understand why they are being burdened with taxes, and how their money will be spent. Asserting that state revenue and expenditures are imbalanced isn’t enough. The government’s policy might be correct, but people must perceive it as right and just. When power seems unjust, then trust in that power, and ultimately in the state itself, will disintegrate.
We need an honest dialogue between the government and the citizen
The state cannot be vague when a person can’t see how they are being supported.
Raising taxes tends to seem especially unjust when the economy is in a backslide and many people have a hard time making ends meet. I understand their distress. At the same time, I’m certain that tax increases will be more readily accepted if people believe that the burden is distributed fairly and higher taxes will help to ensure that children can study in schools, young adults can attend university, revenue is used to treat hospital patients, the elderly are cared for, the streets are safe, the border is protected and the country is defended.
We need an honest dialogue between the government and the citizen; one that dispels distrust and helps to create clarity. We expect a telecom company to explain why they’re raising the price of their services. We want to know why the teacher at the front of a classroom gives the mark that they do. Similarly, we expect the government to provide justifications that make the right decision seem right. Society will grant a great deal of support for reasonable and responsible behaviour.
True, you cannot bend the truth, for example by merely using national security as an excuse for everything unpleasant. It may be true, but its overuse will ultimately render it untrustworthy.
We are accustomed to always being several steps ahead of our competitors. Now, economic recession has made us fall behind.
What can lead Estonia forward? A balanced budget alone is in no way an ambitious goal or the ultimate North Star by which to set our course. One that favours economic growth, encourages job-creation, and attracts foreign investment. Therefore, we must discuss all-encompassing competitiveness – Estonia’s possible trump cards.
Measure twice before enacting new regulations
An intelligent population. Successful futures are not built on ignorance. Especially when the IT business could turn out to be our economy’s North Star: transforming technologies that are developed in research institutions into tactile products, followed by their mass-production and further development. Estonia is home to many entrepreneurs who have experience in building international companies. They now also have monetary resources and, most importantly, the contacts for bringing in investments.
Yet, none of this is possible without education and scholarship. What is the long-term financing plan for Estonian education, our support system for university students, and a way to perpetually foster new generations of students, instructors and researchers? What should be the future of vocational education?
A straightforward and friendly business environment. If a successful entrepreneur feels unwanted here after communicating with an official and decides to keep their eyes and ears open to relocate somewhere else in the world, then the situation is dire. Entrepreneurs are, more often than not, honest; they don’t try to cheat the state. Entrepreneurialism is a thing of value, and we must measure twice before enacting one new regulation in Estonia. The market functions quite well on its own, for the most part, and additional regulations don’t necessarily improve it.
Labour. One thorn in the side of many entrepreneurs. Do Estonian students who study abroad feel like they are awaited back home? What is our talent policy? What is our policy of contributing to people more broadly? And another thing – those who move to Estonia as foreigners must live according to our rules and our language. Limited legal migration, not mass immigration of economic migrants. Then, talented individuals who understand the need to learn the Estonian language and integrate here will enter our country to work and settle down.
Industry. Industry isn’t something old-fashioned that is due for extinction, and the future doesn’t belong to start-ups alone. Together, start-ups and traditional industry have a shared future. We must strive to ensure that Estonia is a favourable location for high-productivity industrial jobs, and that companies originally founded here maintain their ties to the county.
Reliable internet connections in every corner
Energy. Without energy, it is impossible to develop industry, and without electricity consumers, it’s not worth investing in electrical production. In addition to wind turbines and solar panels, the future of environmentally friendly energy requires more flexible industry. That means being open to new technologies and utilizing local technology companies, such as those involved in supercapacitors or electrochemistry.
Investments. Or as Robert Kitt says: we must invest ourselves out of economic recession – new investments create jobs and increased value. Investors haven’t fled Estonia, but they do have some concerns: an air of uncertainty and our own poor communication when explaining the need for large-scale investments. The consequences include our failure to defuse local communities’ fears and prevent the intense opposition that often derails big investment projects.
Connections. So that we, situated here on the edge of the free world, might export our own goods and be attractive to foreign IT firms. This means multilane highways, a high-speed rail connection to the rest of Europe, as many direct flights as possible, and fast and reliable internet connections in every corner of Estonia, without which remote work is impossible. However, it also entails cultivating a digital “Tiger Leap” and establishing a Tartu–Riga passenger rail connection, which I, as a Tartu native, cannot fail to mention.
Security and safety. Russia will remain aggressive and dangerous in the future, and Estonia’s defence is not to be taken for granted or something bestowed from somewhere on high. We guarantee it ourselves. It is only the combined efforts of our military, our allies, and our society as a whole that ensure Estonia’s lasting defence, ready to answer any attack instantly and devastatingly. Thanks to this, we do not believe that Russia will launch a military attack on NATO and the European Union at this point.
Nevertheless, we must also consider security more broadly. Estonia is weakened by frozen power lines on Saaremaa, a flooded vegetable field in Harju County, and overheating classrooms. Similar events occur too frequently to be dismissed as random instances of bad weather. Security also includes food security. It includes energy security. It includes city planning.
Impossible ideas become normality over time
Understanding the world and being a leader. The world has grown smaller, and never in our lifetime have there been so many hotbeds of crisis as there are today. Deadly wet-bulb temperatures in the Middle East. Tensions in the South China Sea and Africa – none of these things are far from us. The war in Ukraine and its final outcome will affect those and all conflicts to come.
There is no room for frightened self-limitation when defending the future of the free world. Not all opportunities for supporting Ukraine and isolating the aggressor on the world stage have been expended yet. If, for example, Kyiv proposes to establish a coalition of NATO members that would help down Russian missiles in Ukrainian airspace, then would we support the initiative? We must. Otherwise, we will have stopped halfway once again and failed to give Ukraine the chance to defend its children’s hospitals and houses from the deadly missile attacks.
Ideas that may seem impossible today become normality over time. Estonia was, after all, one of the first brave countries to start supplying weapons to Ukraine. And Estonia was one of the original few who said that the export of Ukrainian grain from the Port of Odesa was necessary and possible in the first place.
Culture. Transcendent and the bedrock of all. It is a foundation stacked from the figurative limestone of our sovereignty, one upon which Estonia and Estonianness rest. It is our national Song Festival Grounds; our common underpinning and childhood, from which everything springs and sprouts. Culture can never be in excess. Its dearth manifests as the grimace of averageness and superficiality, what Maarja Vaino calls the “okay-mentality” of indifference that reflects an unwillingness to focus on life, society, emotions and other depths.
The country’s biggest youth space-themed competition, titled “Estonian Estronaut” and sponsored by the AHHAA Science Centre, recently came to a close. I’m a big fan of its goal: to motivate young people to study space-related fields and promote the development of deep tech in Estonia.
Self-confidence will help us in the future
I particularly enjoyed the answer given by one competition winner, Rasmus Kolts, to the question of what qualities someone should have to be successful both in a space competition and space itself. He said, quote: “You have to be really self-confident; to understand what’s going on. And you have to evaluate your abilities really well, making sure you don’t overrate them, but don’t underrate them, either.”
I wish us all more self-confidence. More self-trust, my friends.
That self-confidence helped Estonia 33 years ago, helped it later, is helping now, and will also help us in the future.
And when we wish ourselves a wonderful Day of the Restoration of Estonian Independence, then, to echo the words of 16-year-old Rasmus Kolts, let us also wish ourselves and one another more self-confidence and trust in our abilities.
Long live Estonia! Our Estonia!
