Merilo’s comments on Pevkur resignation draw criticism

Estonian Defence Forces Commander Lieutenant General Andrus Merilo has faced criticism after saying Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur should have remained in office until the elections and should have informed him of his resignation in advance, ERR reported.

Security expert Meelis Oidsalu said Merilo had overstepped the limits of his authority, while Raimond Kaljulaid, a member of the Riigikogu’s National Defence Committee, called the comments borderline and warned against overreacting.

Although Merilo told Delfi that he did not want to comment on politics, Oidsalu said he had effectively done so. Merilo said the period before the parliamentary elections was different and argued that Pevkur should have continued until the elections, after which the next government would have proceeded with a new mandate, regardless of its composition.

Merilo also said Pevkur’s decision to resign was bad news because the minister had not told him in advance. “I would certainly have tried to persuade him,” Merilo said.

His comments have caused surprise. Many politicians and senior state officials have criticised the remarks privately but have avoided doing so publicly, citing the difficult security situation. One person described the statements as “thinking at the level of a soldier’s boot”, rather than thinking suitable for the commander of the Defence Forces.

Another politician said they had declined to comment publicly because the Estonian Conservative People’s Party had lost support after criticising the then commander of the Defence Forces, Martin Herem, before the previous parliamentary elections. Public opinion surveys also show that trust in the Defence Forces, including its commander, is considerably higher than trust in politicians.

Elmar Vaher, head of RKIK, took a different approach from Merilo when commenting on Pevkur’s resignation on the television programme Terevisioon on Friday morning. “It is not dignified for me to assess how the defence minister makes his decisions. If he saw that this was the right thing to do in the situation, then that must be trusted,” Vaher said.

Oidsalu said Merilo’s statement that Pevkur should have remained in office until the elections was clearly problematic. In his view, the commander of the Defence Forces had taken a position on a matter of political responsibility.

“Even a highly competent minister may resign if political responsibility for a management error, scandal or crisis of confidence requires it,” Oidsalu said. “Military expertise does not give him much authority to advise on how much weight a democratic system should give such responsibility.”

Oidsalu also criticised Merilo for effectively suggesting what the government’s political personnel should look like until the next democratic mandate. He said this went far beyond saying that it would be better for ministers to be replaced as quickly as possible, which would have been close to the maximum the commander could have allowed himself to say in the situation.

Oidsalu added that it was fortunate Pevkur had not informed Merilo in advance as Merilo had wanted, because that could have turned the situation into a much more serious case of possible political interference.

Kaljulaid said the commander of the Defence Forces, like any other Estonian citizen, naturally had the right to express his opinion, but that the statement was borderline. He also warned against an excessive reaction to the remarks.