Your Royal Highness,
Excellencies,
My Lords
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to say the opening words at this concert, which is dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia. Tonight, you will experience my country through our fine children's choir, Ellerhein.

Look at their faces: what you see is the future of Europe.

And then, look at my face. My life story, as well as the life story of the 80-year-old Republic of Estonia, is the past of Europe. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than seeing that the young faces are more beautiful than old ones.

Not so long ago, the faces of all the Central and East-European countries that were born after the First World War were old and careworn. Moreover, after the end of the Second World War three of them, the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - looked as if their faces had been scraped off altogether.

However, our faces did not disappear. Governments in exile of the Baltic states and our legitimate diplomatic missions continued their work throughout the period of occupations.

Neither did Europe lose its face, since a great majority of the democratic countries, first and foremost the United Kingdom, never accepted the occupation of the Baltic countries by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.

And yet the Europe of the late Nineteen Thirties failed to find enough common will to withstand the deal between Stalin and Hitler, to which the Republic of Estonia fell victim along with many other countries.

The situation had not been much better after the end of the First World War. Although the creation of the Republic of Estonia was based on the Estonians' right to self-determination, my country's survival depended more on the frail balance between the intersecting interests of great powers than on principled observation of the rights of nations. But above all our country survived thanks to the will of the Estonian people, which manifested itself in taking up arms during our two-year War of Liberation.

A large portion of the military aid in our Battle of Estonia came from Great Britain. British warships were in action in the Gulf of Finland. That, the only foreign aid Estonia received, played an essential role in our two year War of Liberation. Estonia gained its independence, and a democratic Europe enveloped the shores and islands of the Baltic Sea.

It is thus no wonder that between the two World Wars close relations developed between Estonia and the United Kingdom. That relationship was far from being the unilateral or idealistic wish of a small country to depend on a large power. It was instead based on active trade: up to 40% of Estonian exports went to Great Britain. It was based on a conception which an Estonian writer already summed up in 1919: ''the English have the unique gift for matching their interests with those of other nations in such a way that both parties benefit from it.''

Never has that gift been in excess in Europe. The history of Europe and Estonia bears witness to the lack of European common will in the middle of the 20th century and thus is an important lesson for us all. The end of the 20th century has given Europe another chance. Once again the special interests of each European country have to be realised in the context of common interests.

The European Union has already decided that Europe's common interest is enlargement. The complicated matching of common and special interests - the enlargement negotiations - will begin at the end of next month. Estonia is among the first to sit at the table, and we are glad that the United Kingdom has the Presidency at this time. There is hardly a sphere of life today where we could not speak of productive relations between Great Britain and Estonia. Definitely they are enhanced by a spiritual closeness between our peoples, by a firm commitment to the principles of liberty and free trade, not to speak of economic interests.

Looking from Estonia, we can affirm that we can feel Great Britain's interest in our region and your wish to co-operate. True to tradition, we reciprocate; this is the way it used to be decades ago, this is the way it is today and this is the way it will be.

Estonia will go to the negotiations thoroughly aware that the enlargement of the European Union is in the interests of both Estonia and Europe. And I am confident that the United Kingdom will be the nation standing firmly for the common interest of us all: Europe shall integrate, at the same time preserving the source of Europe's wealth, which derives above all from every European country having its own face.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Estonia's face of tomorrow.

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