Bank of Estonia supervisory board may take office before Midsummer's Day

The Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Bank of Estonia (Eesti Pank) Mart Laar has presented the Finance Committee of the Riigikogu with four nominees for membership of the Board.
Laar proposed as candidates for the board four experts in the field: Kaie Kerem, Enn Listra, Rein Minka and Urmas Varblane, all of whom were members of the previous board.
Riigikogu financial affairs committee chair Aivar Kokk (Isamaa) told ERR's online news in Estonian that the Riigikogu factions have until June 2 to nominate its candidates.
"We hope that the supervisory board will take office before Midsummer's Day. There are certain processes relating to it," Kokk said, adding that the chairman of the board is trusted and his candidates will probably be appointed.
Kokk explained that appointing the new supervisory board will take a maximum of four months in the future.
The mandates of the current Supervisory Board expired last February, but Laar only nominated new candidates to the Riigikogu in autumn. The Reform Party and the Estonian Conservative People's Party (EKRE) opposed Laar's candidates, as they believed Laar did not consult the Riigikogu sufficiently before nominating them.
After that, the Riigikogu's Finance Committee started developing amendments to the Bank of Estonia Act in order to speed up the process and make it more reglemented.
Last September, Laar said he did not want to see the members of the EKRE in the Supervisory Board of the Bank of Estonia, as their behavior could undermine the credibility of the Estonian state.
The current board members are Kalev Kallo, Kaie Kerem, Enn Listra, Rein Minka, Jaanus Tamkivi, Liina Tõnisson and Urmas Varblane.
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Editor: Anders Nõmm