Kersti Kaljulaid

Estonian politician and president of Estonia

Kersti Kaljulaid (born 30 December 1969) served as the fifth President of Estonia from 2016 to 2021. She was Estonia's first female president.

Former Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid 2017

Quotes

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2017

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  • In a simplistic and absolute world, people ask but two things – that we find a solution to global problems and, if we can't, that we at least make it so that they don't affect them.
  • We can write laws about how to become an Estonian citizen, but not how to become a part of the Estonian nation. If we were to attempt it, we would turn into a totalitarian society and destroy our freedoms in the name of preserving our customs.

2019

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Brookings Institution Speech (13 March 2019)

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Speech Deliverd at the Brookings Institution, washington.mfa.ee

  • These principles and values upon which our societies stand are noble, but without a willingness to take a stand for it, even the most virtuous of ideas is just an idea. It becomes reality, and stays alive, only when accompanied by a readiness to act.
  • A freedom in retreat somewhere would make freedom less secure everywhere.
  • We do not repeat our ironclad commitment to Article 5 in order to convince our Allies. We repeat it to convince others, so that they would not miscalculate.

2021

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  • In the 19th century, the importance of a nation was based on natural resources and territory. In the 20th century primarily on military force. Today, the main resource of countries are our people. People, not merely as tools of production, but as individuals with their rights and freedoms, as well as unbounded imagination, ingenuity and entrepreneurship. Only truly free people are creative enough to thrive in 21st century. Only democracies can give such freedom to people. That is why democracy, human rights and the rights of the nations, are the most important tools for peace and prosperity.

2023

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