It emerged on Friday that 13 people have been laid off from the Office of the President since a change in its leadership. Friday was also the final day of work for two protocol advisers, one of whom had worked at the office for 26 years and the other for nearly 19 years.

Director of the Office of the President Krista Zibo said the changes are necessary to save money and organize the office's work more efficiently. Former director Siim Raie recalls his years at Kadriorg.

When a new director takes over at the Office of the President, how does it usually work? Do you come in and bring your own team or do you continue working with the people who are already there?

No, it is the president's team, not the director of the Office of the President's team. The director does manage the team administratively, but the president is the key decision-maker. I went to Kadriorg toward the end of Toomas Hendrik Ilves' first term, six months before the end of that term. The bigger changes to the team could then be made when the new term began because the president had a clear vision of what he wanted to accomplish during his second term, what issues he wanted to address and what people he needed to achieve those goals. The director of the Office of the President serves the president. It is the president's office, not the director's office.

So the director's own vision, preferences or people they know don't really matter — what matters is what the president wants?

At least under Toomas Hendrik Ilves, that was certainly the case. It is a relatively personality-driven organization. The president has duties prescribed by law and by the Constitution, as well as a certain mission and certain roles to fulfill, but it really is a personality-driven organization and the law gives that individual — the president — the flexibility to shape the organization accordingly.

The president's job is like figure skating. First, you have the compulsory program. Once you have successfully performed all those pirouettes required by the Constitution, you move on to the free skate. That's where you can express yourself more artistically and take on the tasks, issues and ways of exerting influence that the head of state sees as appropriate for shaping life in Estonia.

It really is two things in one. Some duties are prescribed by law: The president has to participate in foreign relations, award state decorations and military ranks and carry out a considerable amount of legal work when legislation is adopted. Beyond that, you can say what your vision for Estonia is and what you want to accomplish. You need people to do all of that and to a large extent, the people working in the Kadriorg building are also divided between those two areas, so to speak: the compulsory program and the free skate. Organizational continuity and the performance of all the office's duties have to be ensured regardless of who the sitting president is.

When you were director of the Office of the President, what kinds of responsibilities did you have? How much of the job was administrative and how much involved other activities?

The organization is large enough and its responsibilities varied enough that every day included something very routine: responding to letters from members of the public, petitions for pardons and invitations from schoolchildren. But I think every president has their own vision of the office and their own role, which they then put into practice with the help of their advisers and the staff of the Office of the President.

Kadriorg tends to be portrayed as a kind of isolated ivory tower. In reality, Kadriorg is a place of hyperreality. Whether you like it or not, the entire Republic of Estonia converges there. Everyone has some idea of what the head of state should do, could do or should pay attention to. A great deal of energy is spent politely saying "no" because unfortunately the head of state cannot be everywhere or fulfill everyone's wishes. That's why I think it makes a great deal of sense to have experienced people there who can set priorities and communicate effectively with everyone.

How much responsibility does the director of the Office of the President have for the budget and for cutting costs? Is that the director's responsibility or does that direction also come from the president or somewhere else?

During my time there, the president did not deal with the budget. It is the executive management's responsibility to ensure that the resources needed to carry out all the office's duties are available, both financial and human resources. The president generally sets the task and it is then up to the rest of the organization to carry it out.

On some rare occasions, when additional money was needed for an exceptional reason, the president would sometimes communicate directly with the prime minister. For example, while I was in office, we launched a project to establish an official presidential residence, which ultimately fell through. But the president and prime minister at the time agreed that such a residence was necessary. And the president did it for the next president, not for himself.

In connection with the latest controversy, so to speak, surrounding the Office of the President, a question has arisen: Is laying off 13 people from the office over two years a lot or a little?

I can't assess that. Those are management decisions. What concerns me more is that all of this is happening now, just days before the change of president. The new president will probably go on a foreign visit on their very first day in office and will probably begin receiving foreign guests immediately. The office has to be able to support the president in all of this.

A large share of the duties performed by the Office of the President are not things you learn in school. You learn them through experience, through actually doing the work. Protocol isn't taught anywhere.

I just hope the new president will be supported by experienced people and that those staff members won't be taking their own first steps at the same time as the president. It would be rather unfortunate if they all had to start learning together.

(The current director of the Office of the President, Krista Zibo, said in a written comment that four people had worked in the office's protocol department, two of whom were laid off, and that no new employees would be hired to replace them.)

Is it generally normal for members of the Office of the President's staff to change when the president changes?

The advisers certainly do. Every president chooses their own closest circle — which issues they want to focus on and what kind of communications they want. But the permanent civil servants working there do not necessarily have to change. There are highly experienced people there who have seen every president Estonia has had since 1991.

Institutional memory is extremely important for an institution like this. There are duties there that you simply don't perform anywhere else and can't learn anywhere else and that institutional memory has to be preserved. It should not be underestimated.

Some processes are not particularly simple. Take the awarding of state decorations, for example. It has to be done with dignity, while ensuring the dignity of everyone involved, including those who submitted the nominations. Or consider preparing for meetings: Even for an ordinary person — rather than another politician or another head of state — meeting the president is a very, very significant event for most visitors.

Making sure that such a meeting is handled with dignity and courtesy, taking into account everyone's experience as well as what happens after the meeting, is a skill in itself. You can't approach it as though it's no big deal and anyone can do it — they come in, we pour some coffee and have a pleasant chat.

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