President of the Republic at the closing of ESTO -96 Festival Song Festival Ground
10.08.1996

Dear fellow countrymen!
Distinguished guests!

The flame of our festival has been ignited.

Once again it has called the whole nation together, here under this arc of song.

It is from here we have sent our message all over the world, in hard times and free times.The songs, lyrics and melodies have been different. The message of the signalling flame has always been the same: we are a nation, we will survive as a nation, we belong together. Or, in the words of a poet:

''Fire, - unite us and melt us together!''

Today and from now on we are melted together stronger than ever before. Because today the arc of song unites the Estonians who found rescue from the occupation in the Free World as well as the Estonians who stayed behind in the homeland. Behind the arc of song is the port of Tallinn and the Estonian shores. For many it was the parting of the ways, the last glimpse of homeland. For many there were no boats on the shores any more and they stayed at home with aching hearts under a foreign flag and rule. And many never made it to the firm ground again. More than with any other nation in Europe fate tried to make us playthings in her hands. But this small and stubborn people could defy the odds and stay themselves on all the continents where fate had scattered them. Devotion to our language and culture, to our state and obligations has united us all, the more so the fewer there have been of us or the bigger the hazards to lose ourselves. The best proof of it is ESTO: ESTO saved the Estonian Republic from death into oblivion at the times when many big states would have liked to forget the troublesome memory of the Republic of Estonia. The brightest proof of this devotion is ESTO's long way home.

Hello again, dear sisters and brothers!

I know that our Estonia has a different look today. Not everything stayed the way it is in our memories. Not everything changes as quickly as in our dreams. But believe us, we have done our best. And on festive days like today we can admit with confidence: there is no need to be ashamed.

It is true, that anybody can find drawbacks in today's Estonia. They are observable because we have free journalism. They make us bitter because we all have our own vision of a better Estonia. And today we even do not remember that we started building up our independent state from below zero. In the direct sense of the word it means founding a state. It means legislation. It means new laws in such an amount that elsewhere would have demanded decades. Every law, every amendment to a law, every decision passed in the Parliament means responsibility. Responsibility to the people, responsibility to the state. It is the Parliament that is the tool of democracy, that creates a legal frame for the whole activity of society. This is the way people carry out their will in a parliamentary democracy. It has not been easy. But neither do agreements come easier in families, local governments or at working places. Impatience would be a bad assistant.

And then: self confidence is a good thing and the self-confidence of two persons added up even better. But if self-confidence is not connected with mutual trust, what we have to do with is not addition any more but subtraction. The absence of trust lets our national coexistence degenerate into heartless struggle just for existence.

I repeat again what I have said before: the president or the government or the parliament or other constitutional institution, taken separately, are not the state of Estonia, neither are they that when added together. They are the state of Estonia only if they are united by trust, if we all act in unison, with the trust and support of our citizens. Alone we are weak. Relying on unity and trust we can move mountains. Where does trust come from? It is born of work, of acting together. Trust is our Kunda cement as well as the Kunda culture surviving here for 70 centuries.

From here we shall set our sight on the future.

ESTO will be over and new challenges are awaiting. Estonia is facing two elections.

I call upon all fellow compatriots to show their trust for the Estonian Republic by participating actively in the local elections.

I call upon all countrymen living outside Estonia to carry on and deepen the ESTO ideals, the way Valter Rand has written about it. We have common goals, regardless of where we live. Fate has been severe with us. Let us now turn the smiling side of fate towards us, let us turn severity into an advantage. And please forgive me, Karl August Hermann:

Do you know the land that from the shores of Lake Peipsi reaches the Straits of Wellington
and from the woods and grass of Mount Munamägi goes to the shores of Sidney Bay?

My dear friends, many Estonians, indeed too many could sing: this is the land where my cradle has hung. A small nation has become a small nation of the world. Let as preserve everywhere, whereever possible, the Estonian spirit and the Estonian language and first and foremost the knowledge that we have a common roof and a common responsibility for this roof to endure rains and storms. I think, that if Walter Rand lived today he would have worded the goals of global Estonianship in this way: Many of the Estonians have become citizens of the USA, Canada, Sweden, Australia, who in a miraculous way have preserved their faith in their homeland or their parents' homeland. It is a totally different situation from the pre-war independent Estonian Republic. Preserve and deepen your present bonds but first and foremost widen them. This is a boundlessly optimistic challenge to the creativity of scientists and artistic people, economic and education policy, global cooperation, which should also hold concern for the security of the Republic of Estonia.

Estonia is now stepping into worrisome times. Unlike most of the European states Estonia is lacking guarantees of security. I can assure you that the year 1939 is not going to repeat, but in the name of that the time demands cool and united action from us. The international trustworthiness of the Republic of Estonia depends on our own trust on our state and constitution.

And secondly.

You know that my term of office is terminating. I thank all the ESTO participants who came to me in Sweden and said that they would give their votes for me. I understand that one does not read the Constitution very often, although I cannot approve of this at all. Thanking you anyway, I would like to tell you that the Constitution has entrusted the election of the head of state to the Parliament. I call upon you to trust the Constitution.

In connection with the elections we have heard calls to widen the presidential powers or calls upon future presidential candidates to reveal their platforms, which is actually one and the same thing. I would like to comment on it in the following way: I have proceeded in my hitherto activities from the fact that the Estonian head of the state cannot have his own separate political platform. The president is not a party. The president's platform, if we should use that word at all is fixed in our Constitution and the presidential oath of office. I quote:

''To steadfastly defend the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Estonia, to exercise the power entrusted to me in a just and impartial manner, and to faithfully perform my duties with all of my abilities and to the best of my understanding, for the benefit of the people of Estonia and the Republic of Estonia.''

I think that this is the only platform from which also the next presidents can proceed. Thus, once again, trust the Constitution, because this is the anchor that keeps us from running upon dangerous rocks. We should be able to learn from history. History does not give repetition lessons.

It is either we learn our lesson or we fail and remain in the same class. It is first and foremost there that I see our common field of work for the following ESTO festivals.

Dear countrymen!

This is my last dialogue with the Estonian people during my term of office. I thank you. It is not easy to break new ground. But it has brought with it moments of happiness which outweigh one's whole life.