Address given by the President of the Republic at the Mother’s Day celebrations held on 13 May 2012 at the Estonia Concert Hall

Fellow countrymen, mothers and grandmothers throughout the country, children and parents everywhere,

Today is a day that recognises and honours a part of our lives of which there is quite possibly none greater nor more personal: that with which we all, innately, have an unbreakable bond.

Mother's Day.

Without further ado, let me wish all mothers eternal thanks, endless embraces and all the flowers you could wish for! My mother. All of the mothers here today. All mothers, everywhere.

Let me wish them, too, good health and unwavering resolve. Such wishes never go amiss.

We talk a lot of the hugely important role that mothers play in our lives, and of the responsibility they shoulder.

Mothers make important decisions about their children's education.

Mothers set the rules at home, and instil values in their children.

Mothers make sure that everyone in the family is healthy, and encourage their children to exercise and play sport.

And it is usually mothers who children come to seeking solace, to take their pain away, and to make them feel safe and secure.

The question I would like to put to you today is this: given that we ask so much of our mothers, do we really give them the authority and the opportunities they need to be able to cope with those demands?

The simple but precise answer to that question is to be found in another: are mothers, and women generally, being granted sufficient decision-making rights in the way we organise our lives today?

As mothers and as women, are they sufficiently able to influence decisions that not only affect society, but women and mothers themselves and their quality of life?

I'm rather afraid that they're not. And I don't understand why.

13.05.2012

Photos

Latest speeches

• 20.04.2012 President of the Republic at a meeting with the ESTCOY-14 unit that is about to be deployed to Afghanistan, Paldiski, 20 April 2012
• 14.03.2012 President of the Republic on Mother Language Day on 14 March 2012 in National Library of Estonia, Tallinn
• 14.03.2012 President of the Republic at the “E-governance or E-Dependence?” conference in Swissôtel, Tallinn, 14 March 2012
• 09.03.2012 Greeting of the President of the Republic to the Flight of the Kite Conference of Estonian Employers Confederation in KUMU (Estonian Art Museum) on 9 March 2012

President Ilves: Viljandi is the point of balance between Tartu and Tallinn

"Viljandi is Estonia's very own point of balance between Tartu and Tallinn. Keeping our traditions alive and bringing folklore to a multitude of hearts, the Viljandi Culture Academy steadfastly works on making the Estonian living environment cosier and richer", President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said at the 60th anniversary of the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy in Ugala Theatre.

21.05.2012

President Ilves at the “Kevadtorm” (Spring Storm) exercise: as always, conscripts have been good students and reservists confirm their willingness to defend, once again

"The young men who are completing their mandatory military service have been good students, as always, while the reservists have again proven the support of society towards national defence," told President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, at the annual large-scale training exercise, "Kevadtorm" (Spring Storm), of the Defence Forces.

16.05.2012

Photos

President Ilves: NATO must remain the most powerful military alliance, even in economically complicated times

"I do hope that the NATO summit in Chicago will confirm that NATO is visible, credible and deterring, offering its allies reliable protection and its partners the support that they need," told the President, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, at his meeting with William Burns, the Deputy Secretary of State of the USA.

15.05.2012