legal committee chief predicts unanimous endorsement for Tammearu

Photo: Mati Hiis / Õhtuleht

The chairman of the Estonian parliament's legal affairs committee, Marko Pomerants, says that Kuno Tammearu is likely to be endorsed for the job of director general of the Rescue Board by consensus when he appears before the panel Monday.

"There's a very big likelihood that Tammearu will get the legal committee's blessing. I dare say, as things stand now, that by consensus, but let us wait until the vote," the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL) deputy told BNS on Friday.

Pomerants said that all the sides in the standing committee he had talked to had been satisfied with Tammearu's candidacy. He emphasized though that before Monday's vote members of the committee will ask the prospective new director general many questions.

Interior Minister Ken-Marti Vaher on Friday formally announced the nomination of Kuno Tammearu, deputy director general of the Rescue Board, for appointment to the position of the Rescue Board's director general.

The head of the Rescue Board is appointed to office by the government at the interior minister's proposal after hearing the opinion of the parliamentary legal affairs committee.

The minister said Tammearu has proved himself a strong official and leader who has achieved visible results in his present position. Tammearu devised and launched the concept of volunteer rescue units. "It works effectively already now and more than a thousand people are taking part in it looking after safety in municipalities," Vaher said.

He added that thanks to his long-term record with the Rescue Board on various levels Tammearu knows the organization, can motivate people and be the team leader.

The minister said the new director general's first task in the job is to pay attention to increasing analytical capability.

"By its activity so far the Rescue Board has achieved the status of the most trusted state agency in Estonia, and this trust has to be preserved. The needs of the rescue domain are always bigger than the possibilities of the state budget, therefore well thought out decisions will be needed to ensure prevention and day-to-day life saving capability," Vaher said, adding that Tammearu possessed a clear vision of the Rescue Board's future.

Born in 1974, Tammearu has a bachelor's degree as rescue and fire engineer from the Academy of Security Sciences and a master's in public administration from the Tallinn University of Technology. Tammearu has been linked to the Rescue Board since 1992 and was appointed deputy director general responsible for rescue work in early 2012.

Tammearu was picked as candidate by an evaluation committee in a public competition announced at the beginning of this year.

The top job at the Rescue Board became vacant at the expiry of the five-year term of its previous director general, Kalev Timberg, at the end of February.