Select Committee was given overview of preparedness to implement national defence action plan

Chairman of the State Budget Control Select Committee Urmas Reinsalu said that the Committee had three proposals for the future to the National Audit Office. “The National Audit Office should assess the fulfilment of the national defence tasks from the point of view of both NATO membership and the country’s own defence capability. Secondly, the relevant institutions should implement the recommendations made by the National Audit Office to the State Secretary and the ministers, and thirdly, we would like to meet again in six months’ time to find out what has been improved on the basis of the recommendations,” he pointed out.

The National Audit Office recommended that the State Secretary should regularly inform the Government of the Republic about the national defence capabilities of different areas of government and their shortcomings, agree on the principles for the establishing of primary reserves of agencies in cooperation of government departments, and issue instructions to the ministries on what information related to the national defence action plan may be shared with the government institutions and persons involved in the performance of national defence tasks.

The National Audit Office recommended that the ministers set out priorities in the budgets of the ministries in order to eliminate the capacity gaps related to broad national defence tasks, to assess how many national defence posts should be available in the area of government for the performance of national defence tasks, and to distribute the most operational information possible to the agencies and persons involved in national defence tasks.

Deputy Chair of the Select Committee Maris Lauri said that the report gave a good overview of where there were shortcomings and whether the things were moving towards improvement. “I think that this audit is useful not only to the ministries but also to other agencies connected with the sector more broadly. I agree with the State Secretary that not everything has to be managed by the state, but also by ministries. There is no need to establish central management, it would make the system too rigid,” the Deputy Chair added.

Audit Manager of the National Audit Office Silver Jakobson introduced the National Audit Office audit report “Preparedness for the Implementation of the National Defence Action Plan” at the sitting of the Select Committee. State Secretary Taimar Peterkop, National Security and Defence Coordination Director of the Government Office Erkki Tori, Minister of the Interior Lauri Läänemets, Undersecretary for Rescue and Crisis Management at the Ministry of the Interior Viola Murd, Undersecretary for Defence Planning at the Ministry of Defence Tiina Uudeberg, Director of Audit of the National Audit Office Ines Metsalu-Nurminen, Auditor of the National Audit Office Henry Sinivee participated in the discussion.

Riigikogu Press Service
Eleen Lindmaa
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Link uudisele: Select Committee was given overview of preparedness to implement national defence action plan

Source: Parliament of Estonia