Rein Lang remembers Siim Kallas as a principled statesman

Siim Kallas was a statesman guided by a clear worldview and strong principles, his friend and fellow thinker, former senior politician Rein Lang, told ERR after Kallas died on Saturday.

“There are few leaders and managers in society who are idealists at the same time. His leadership was based on a clear worldview and principles. He was therefore a statesman whom we greatly lack today,” Lang said.

Lang said Kallas was among the leaders who consistently explained to society why one solution was better than another. Kallas became nervous when told to return to reality and follow the wishes of the masses, Lang said.

“He said that people need to be told what is right,” Lang recalled.

According to Lang, one of Kallas’s political idols was Tony Blair, who repeatedly said that decisions unpopular with the public were “the right thing to do.”

“Siim always said that the decisions we made were the right things to do, regardless of how they affected the party’s rating or the material published in the press. What he did was right. We can all see that in what surrounds us,” Lang said.

Siim Kallas, who was born in 1948, died on Saturday at the age of 78.