Lithuania: Foreign Ministry working on ties with China, Taiwan
Lithuania is making progress towards normalising relations with communist China, Juozas Olekas, speaker of the…
Read Less, Know More
Welcome to Via Baltica, your “information superhighway” for news from the three Baltic tigers of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania! Our founder and editor-in-chief is Kerkko Paananen, senior news analyst with more than two decades of professional expertise in covering and reporting on current affairs in the Baltic States. We aim to do one thing well:…
Lithuania: Foreign Ministry working on ties with China, Taiwan
Lithuania is making progress towards normalising relations with communist China, Juozas Olekas, speaker of the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, said, BNS reports. Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said that Lithuania’s position on China remained unchanged, stressing the need for a unified European approach as part of the EU’s common foreign and security policy. He warned that…
Latvia: Government orders review of NGO funding
The Latvian government has asked the State Chancellery to conduct a comprehensive analysis of state funding for non-governmental organisations (NGOs), LETA reports. Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs alleged that NGOs were wasting taxpayer money, LSM reported. He suggested that state funding for NGOs created a conflict of interest, insisting that NGOs should not depend on state…
Estonia: Inflation to fall below 4% in 2026: Finance Ministry
Estonia’s annual inflation may drop below 4% in 2026, the Ministry of Finance forecasts, ERR reports. Kristjan Pungas, economic analyst at the ministry’s fiscal policy department, linked the projection to the easing of the conflict in the Middle East. He noted that Estonia’s inflation rate was one of the lowest in the eurozone in June…
Baltic: Over quarter cannot afford one-week holiday travel
Over a quarter of people in the Baltic States could not afford one week of annual holiday travel away from home in 2025, according to Eurostat data, LSM reports. In Lithuania, 30.9% of residents could not afford one week of holiday travel in 2025, which was down from 32.2% in 2024. The corresponding share was…
Lithuania: University to review PM’s dissertation for plagiarism
Lithuania’s ISM University of Management and Economics will investigate a possible violation of academic ethics by Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius, BNS reports. ISM’s ethics committee will review a complaint regarding alleged plagiarism in Sinkevicius’s doctoral dissertation, which he defended in 2015. Sinkevicius has rejected the allegations, BNS reported. He suggested that the interest in his…
Latvia: United List takes lead in July 2026 poll
Latvia’s United List alliance has become the country’s most popular political group, according to a new SKDS poll for LTV conducted in July 2026, LSM reports. Support for United List stood at 12.2%, which was up from 9.8% in the previous poll in June 2026. The non-parliamentary electoral alliance of Sovereign Power and Alliance of…
Estonia: Schengen Area must be preserved: PM
Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal stressed the importance of preserving the EU’s Schengen Area, insisting that creating new internal borders within the free movement area was “in no way in the interests of Estonia or Estonians,” ERR reported. He was responding to reactions to the recent sudden influx of irregular migrants from Morocco to Spain’s North…
Baltic: Turkey enters NATO air defence mission
Türkiye’s Turkish Air Force (THK) has deployed some 80 troops and five F-16 fighter jets for the first time to Estonia’s Ämari air base as part of NATO’s Baltic air defence mission, ERR reports. THK replaced the Portuguese Air Force to patrol Baltic airspace until November 2026. Meanwhile, Italian Air Force has taken over responsibility…
Lithuania: Opposition contests constitutionality of new government
Opposition MPs in the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, plan to ask the Constitutional Court to review the formation of the new government of Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius, ELTA reports. Speaking in an interview with Ziniu Radijas, Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen, leader of the Lithuanian Liberal Movement (LLS), said that there were “several legitimate questions” regarding the procedure…