Feb 24 - The events of the 84th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia started at sunrise with the festive hoisting of the national flag in the Tall Hermann Tower on Toompea Hill. Afterwards President Rüütel received the parade of the Defence Forces at Vabaduse Square. The Independence Day service was held in Kaarli Church. Prime Minister Siim Kallas handed over this year's national awards for science and culture in the Academy of Science' Hall in Toompea. The festive concert was held in the Estonian National Opera House, where President Arnold Rüütel delivered his Independence Day address.
The concert was followed by a reception in the opera house, hosted by the President and Mrs Ingrid Rüütel. Estonian President Rüütel said in his speech on the 84th anniversary that Estonia needs a new social agreement for balancing its development. According to Rüütel, such an agreement would be aimed at the social sustainability of society and would secure considerable improvement of the quality of life in the state. “That agreement could specify a certain allocation from the national income for the support of the demographic restoration programme in Estonia," Rüütel stressed. "The social agreement should secure social and national security and provide guarantees for the continuation of the Estonian language and culture and also education and science." The new social agreement should give an organised picture of the general development trends of Estonia for the next ten or twenty years. There is currently no such picture, Rüütel said. "It is like a situation on a ship that is leaving the port with the crew members at their posts but without asking the passengers where they want to go. True enough, efforts have been made to prepare development plans for different areas of activities, but these are on different levels and have not been interconnected," Rüütel said.
According to the president, all those who feel that Estonia is standing again at important crossroads could be parties to that agreement. Both intellectuals and politicians and business communities have an important role here. “The future of Estonia depends to a large extent on whether we can build up a civil society and develop further the rule of law,” noted the head of state. “Development of a civil society has been impeded by taking the opinion of the people too little into consideration, by the distance of reforms from citizens and by bureaucracy.” President Rüütel emphasised that reaching a social agreement requires that Estonians rise above the narrow interests of groups, daily policy and individualism. “Our current choices will influence our fate for decades, even for centuries," Rüütel said. Please see the full speech under: http: // www.president.ee
Estonia celebrated its 84th anniversary
Archived Articles | 05 Mar 2002 | EWR
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