We've had Vice President Pence visiting Tallinn, where he met not only with me but also with my other Baltic colleagues - Lithuanian President Ms. Grybauskaite and Latvian President Mr. Vejonis. And, of course, Vice President Pence has been very clear that NATO acts as a whole. Attack against one is attack against all.
The U.S., together with trans-Atlantic allies, never recognized the occupation of the Baltic states by the Soviet Union. Moscow faced pressure or retaliation every time it tried to move toward official recognition, or at least acceptance, of its claim that the Baltic states were Soviet republics.
I am very worried about politicians who know that their countries are greatly benefiting financially and at the same time are saying that the European Union is not good for us. The message has to be coherent.
I don't know of any problems countries in Europe are facing - environment, infrastructure, markets, market development, the fifth freedom being digital freedom, border security, terrorism, migration - that can be better solved alone.
NATO's deterrence has always been adequate, and I'm not worried about the physical security of my country. Not at all.
In Estonia, our greatest national treasure is our egalitarian educational system.
In Estonia, the Russian minority can move freely, travel freely, work anywhere in Europe.
As the president of Estonia, I represent the only truly digital society which actually has a state; almost all our citizens' interactions with the government, including voting, can be done securely online, and our 'e-residents' can incorporate and run their businesses in Estonia without ever having to set foot here.
Estonia maintains a two-language school system. I don't know many countries in the world that provide a system like ours. We are making sure that our Russian-speaking minority feels comfortable and involved in this country.
The E.U. is very popular in Estonia, and for very good reasons - not because Estonia has received considerable support from the E.U., but because Europe supports the values which keep small states safe in this world.
Estonia is proud of the fact that the country today has a flourishing and happy Jewish life.
I must recall with gratitude those 178 Jewish women and men who participated in the Estonian War of Independence. Both of our nations know what it means to keep your identity and freedom even under the pressure of foreign powers, and we can be proud of their achievements.
Every state aspiring to be part of the free world, able to decide its own destiny, deserves its chance. They may, in a not too distant future, contribute to all of us in ways we cannot imagine today.
I don't want to sound like I'm a special type of Russia hater. There are very few heads of state in Europe that would not like to have very good relations with Russia.
Cyber attacks rain down on us from many places. You have to make your systems secure and safe and teach your people cyber hygiene.
In 2008, when Russia attacked Georgia, Western countries took it as an isolated incident, but probably this was the start of the push against our underlying international security architecture. And this push then started a landslide which in 2014 resulted in Crimean occupation.
The E.U. is more resilient than we give it credit for. We always muddle through.
Our people are willing to work with the government on new technologies. Now, it's a habit; every Estonian looks at it as part of our national identity. We understand that this allows us to provide better services to our people than our money would allow.
Industrial jobs are disappearing, and they will continue to disappear owing to productivity gains from automation. Thus, social models that were created to fit industrial and early service economies will no longer be viable. As the industrial workforce shrinks, the social model founded on it will go, too.
Governments don't want to be the last ones in the digital sphere if their people and businesses are already there. We have to make clear that the free movement of services in the E.U. also applies in the digital sphere. The shortcut is to create a digital union.
