Party leaders remember Siim Kallas as an exceptional leader

Party leaders have praised Siim Kallas as an outstanding leader following his death, ERR reports. The chairmen of the Social Democratic Party and Isamaa highlighted his influence, while media figures from the Centre Party and Parempoolsed also remembered him with respect.

“What makes a politician a leader above all is having an inner compass that is in the right place,” Social Democratic Party chairman Lauri Läänemets wrote on social media on Saturday. “Kallas always knew what kind of country he wanted and what he did not. That gave him the courage to stand by his views, even when they were unpopular but necessary.”

Läänemets said Kallas was an exceptional man as both a politician and a national leader, adding that “he was large in spirit and made Estonia larger as well.”

“Siim Kallas and I stood on different sides ideologically, but that did not stop him from thinking along with you and seeing opportunities for cooperation,” Läänemets wrote. “He could recognise your work while adding, when necessary, that he disagreed with its substance. He could be sharp when needed, but always remained polite. His inner certainty did not stop him from doing or saying things.”

Isamaa chairman Urmas Reinsalu said Kallas was one of the most influential leaders shaping Estonia’s choices over an entire generation.

“Siim Kallas’s legacy as an economic figure, politician and opinion leader will continue to accompany Estonia today,” Reinsalu wrote. He added that conversations with Kallas were always about more than the present, often turning to history and ideas, and that Kallas was generous and dignified even in disputes.

Janek Mäggi, a Centre Party member, former minister and public relations specialist, described Kallas as “the complete gold reserve of his generation: enthusiastic, encouraging, a person who walked through stone, and a keeper of his family.”

“As unbelievable as it may seem, I learned most about doing and organising politics from you,” Mäggi wrote. He recalled Kallas’s saying that people cannot choose when they are born or when they die, but can choose what lies between those moments. Kallas, Mäggi added, knew how to choose a life filled with passion, joy and a thirst for life.

Ilmar Raag, a council member of Parempoolsed, called Kallas one of the last great figures and said he had learned to respect him.

Raag wrote that although he initially viewed all politicians with deep suspicion, he later came to see another side of Kallas: a widely read man who, despite having had a career during the Soviet era, was strongly committed to Estonia. Kallas belonged to a generation when intellectuals were active in politics, Raag said.