Läänemets asks Chancellor of Justice to review Kuus dismissal

Estonian Social Democratic Party leader Lauri Läänemets has asked the Chancellor of Justice to assess whether the dismissal of Kaimo Kuus, secretary general of the Ministry of Defence, was lawful, ERR reported Thursday.

Läänemets requested an assessment of whether the actions of the government and the defence minister complied with the State Government Act, the Public Service Act, the principle of good administration, and the principles of a professional and politically independent civil service.

“In my view, this issue concerns more than ending the employment relationship of one secretary general,” Läänemets said. “The situation fundamentally concerns whether the protection granted to the civil service by law can effectively be disregarded through a decision that appears formally correct when political power changes, and whether the right to dismiss an official can be used to implement agreements made in party interests.”

Läänemets said the Chancellor of Justice should assess the case not only as an individual employment matter but also as a constitutional and institutional question concerning the boundary between political leadership and the politicisation of the professional civil service.

He said that if the six-month protection period established by law can be circumvented by having a departing minister dismiss a secretary general immediately before leaving office at the request of the incoming minister or governing party, the protection would lose much of its substance.