President of the Republic convened the National Defence Council to Kadriorg for the evening of July 5. We hereby present the positions of the President of the Republic and Toomas Savi, Chairman of the Riigikogu, Prime Minister Mart Laar, Minister of Foreign Affairs Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Minister of Defence Jüri Luik, Chairman of the National Defence Committee of the Riigikogu Tiit Tammsaar, and Lieutenant-Colonel Aare Ermus, Acting Commander of the Defence Forces.

1. President of the Republic explained the necessity of changes in the structure of the defence forces to the members of the Council. The command system of the Estonian defence forces must be reformed to be more functional and more appropriate for today’s needs. The Minister of Defence introduced the concepts for reforming the command system of the defence forces to the National Defence Council, enclosing the written recommendations of Estonian experts, including General Kert. Members of the Council principally approved of the positions presented by the Minister and forwarded them for further analysis to the committee formed under Clause 2.

2. With the approval of the National Defence Council the President formed a working group by the National Defence Council by his directive; the working group is going to deal with the planning and implementation of the reform of the command system. The President appointed the Minister of Defence Jüri Luik, a member of the National Defence Council, to be the Chairman of the working group; and Lieutenant-General Johannes Kert, Brigadier-General Märt Tiru, as well as member of the Riigikogu and Chairman of the National Defence Committee of the Riigikogu Tiit Tammsaar, and Urmas Reinsalu, Director of the Office of the President of the Republic, to be the members of the working group. The working group shall report its activities to the National Defence Council.

3. Members of the National Defence Council heard the reasons of the President of the Republic for satisfying the application for resignation of the Commander of the Defence Forces. After a substantial discussion, the National Defence Council proposed to President of the Republic to convene an extraordinary session of the Riigikogu in August in order to conduct the proceedings of the release of the Commander of the Defence Forces.



4. On the proposal of the President of the Republic, the National Defence Council expressed gratitude to Lieutenant-General Johannes Kert for his devotion, and expressed their wish that the Lieutenant-General would accept the post that would enable him to continue to serve his country in the new structures of the defence forces. The National Defence Council was pleased to state that the Lieutenant-General has not declined this proposal.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, June 5, 2000

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