Tomorrow, on January 8, 2001, Eerik-Niiles Kross will begin his work as Counsellor to the President of the Republic.

At the time of building up the national defence system and developing it to meet the requirements of NATO, the President of the Republic as the Supreme Commander of National Defence needs more extensive representation in the preparation of reforms concerning security. The workload of the Office of the President in this process has increased in connection with several national defence or security reforms that are currently ongoing or under preparation.

Eerik-Niiles Kross will have the task to participate as the representative of the President of the Republic in the NATO integration committee of Ministers, and in the security institutions reform committee that is to be established by the Minister of Defence. He will also participate in the planning and approval process of the security chapter of Estonia’s annual Membership Action Plan. In addition, the President's new Counsellor will be responsible for representing the President of the Republic in the Security Committee of the Government of the Republic that is going to be formed in accordance with the Security Institutions Act, and for strategic analysis in the field of security. According to Mari Tomingas, the National Defence and Security Adviser to the President of the Republic, extensive communication with the institutions and the so-called power structures in the administrative area of the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Internal Affairs is very necessary to the President of the Republic as the Supreme Commander of National Defence in connection with the ongoing reforms.

Eerik-Niiles Kross was born in 1967; he finished the Tallinn Secondary School No. 21 in 1985 and graduated from the History Department of Tartu University in 1991. In 1992 he got his MA at the London University. Thereafter, Eerik-Niiles Kross has worked at the Estonian Embassies in London and in Washington and been the Director of the Co-ordination Office of the State Chancellery.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, January 7, 2001

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