Janek Mäggi: Siim Kallas’s Passing Marks the End of the Era of Great Politicians

Siim, your determination, passion and fighting spirit were extraordinary. Nothing could ever be overlooked. You always had to strive for the very best, for the brightest summit.

Your passing marks the end of the era of Great Politicians in Estonia – an era that included Lennart Meri, Edgar Savisaar, Arnold Rüütel and many others of your generation whose deeds and ideas made Estonia what it is today. You were one of the last among them still active in politics.

I remember well when we travelled to Kyiv together in the autumn of 2015 and you said: “We cannot choose when we are born or when we die, but we can choose what happens in between!”

There was so much optimism and initiative in you. You were one of the few people who would rather arrive at a meeting an hour early than one minute late. Every time, I knew I had to take into account that you were “too” punctual, that you always wanted to go further and faster than circumstances allowed.

You knew how to choose a life in which every moment was filled with passion, joy and a zest for living. A gentleman could smell faintly of fine spirits; getting elected and governing required two different people; and everything we did together was extraordinary. You knew that history does not simply happen – it is made. On several occasions, we made it together.

The last time was this spring, when you came to speak at a defence policy conference. Every text you wrote contained an unexpected perspective, an ambition to create ideas that would endure rather than repeat those of others. It could never be boring, no one was allowed to be incompetent, and the flag had to be kept flying.

When the media asked, as we were preparing for the presidential election, why you had chosen such a team, you replied: “A team must not be one that you score points for; a team must be one that scores points for you!”

Incredible as it may seem, I learned more from you about doing and organising politics than from anyone else. You read every book worthy of being called a book. It was quite difficult for me to keep up, so that at our next meeting I would not have to say: wait, I haven’t got to that one yet.

I also remember well our discussion about how some people read a great many books but are unable to produce a single original thought from their knowledge and what they have read. For you, the ability to synthesise was the first skill that made a politician a politician – a leader of the people.

And yet, you knew countless quotations by heart, quotations on which powerful texts could be built. One of the most fundamental ideas you borrowed was something former Israeli prime minister and military leader Yitzhak Rabin said in Washington in 1993 at the signing of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): “You don’t make peace with friends. You make it with enemies.” You were remarkably good at making peace in unexpected situations. That was one of your virtues.

You were undoubtedly among the finest of your generation – enthusiastic, a driving force, someone who would walk through stone, and a devoted family man. My deepest condolences to Kristi, Kaja and Ülo.

Siim, you chose very well what would happen in between.

Your legacy is extraordinary.

Rest in peace…