In addition to being critical of the provisions of the Defence Forces Act, Mr. Velliste also attacked the basic principles of his own party’s manifesto (the Isamaa & Res Publica political manifesto can be found at: (http://www.irl.ee/?id=10385), which explicitly states that the Defence Minister is entitled to determine the activities of the Defence Forces; whilst only this arrangement results in holding the Defence Minister principally and politically responsible. The draft of the Defence Forces Act includes the Defence Minister’s right to assign the Directors of the Departments of the General Staff and the chiefs of the administrative units of the Defence Forces at the recommendation of the Commander of the Defence Forces. This provision has been approved both by the President and the Prime Minister, as well as the new Commander of the Defence Forces, Major General Ants Laaneots.
The risk of subjectivity will not increase but rather decrease due to the fact that two separate individual decisions, as opposed to a sole decision maker, will be required in future.
Jürgen Ligi
Minister of Defence