Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda believes that NATO’s upcoming Vilnius summit will reach agreements that will "not disappoint" Ukraine in its fight against Russian invasion, LRT reports. Speaking in an interview with BNS, Nauseda said that the summit was unlikely to invite Ukraine to join the alliance after the war, however. Instead, NATO countries are expected…
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office has appointed Lithuania’s Gedgaudas Norkunas as one of the EU prosecutors, the Justice Ministry announced, BNS reports. Previously, Norkunas served as a European delegated prosecutor. The new EU prosecutors will take up their posts on 29 July 2023 for a term in office of three years. Half of of the…
The Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, is working on a "national agreement" to address the issue of a declining population, LRT reports. Currently, one in three households in Lithuania consists of single individuals living alone, which has nearly doubled in the last 20 years. This trend includes both seniors, particularly women due to a significant gender…
The board chairman of Lithuania’s central bank, the Bank of Lithuania, Gediminas Šimkus, said that German banks would be welcome in Lithuania, ELTA reports. Speaking at an event hosted by Lithuania’s honorary consul in Germany, Šimkus noted that the Lithuanian banking sector was still concentrated, with only three major banks accounting for the majority of…
Latvia had the largest share of people outside the labour force in the three Baltic states in the first quarter of 2023, according to Eurostat data, LSM reports. Just over 16% of Latvia’s potential labour force is not currently part of the working population. The figure stands at 15.4% in Lithuania and 12.3% in Estonia….
Latvia will maintain enhanced monitoring of its border with Belarus due to concerns raised by the presence of the Russian private military company, Wagner Group in Belarus, President Egils Levits stated, LSM reports. A few dozen people continue to attempt crossing from Belarus into Latvia every day. However, there is no significant risk regarding Russian…
Latvia’s Riga International Airport (RIX) served over 3 million passengers in the first half of 2023, which was nearly 40% more than in the same period of 2022, LSM reports. Transit passengers accounted for 21% of the total, which was up from 17% a year earlier. The average load factor of passenger aircraft stood at…
While Latvia’s economy is generally resilient and the labour market remains strong with low unemployment, the economy will still face significant fragility in 2023, Martins Kazaks, president of the Bank of Latvia, warned, LSM reports. Speaking in an interview on LTV, Kazaks emphasised the need for economic transformation in order to avoid falling behind other…
Latvia’s opposition Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) is planning to request the dismissal of Agriculture Minister Didzis Šmits, Baltic News Network reports. ZZS press secretary Dace Karklina said that the party supported the position of the Latvian Farmers Union (LZS) that the minister’s inaction and failure to set limits had resulted in uncontrollable increases…