Estonian debt collection and credit management company Aktiva Finance Group will acquire Swedish credit management company Intrum Group’s business in the Baltic States for EUR 30mn, TVNET reports. Under the deal, Aktiva Finance Group will acquire 100% of shares in Intrum Group’s subsidiaries in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The transaction is expected to be closed…
Housing prices in the Baltic States rose the fastest in Lithuania in the first quarter of 2023, according to Eurostat data, BNS reports. Compared to a year earlier, housing prices rose by 13.1% in Lithuania, which was the second-highest increase in the EU. Housing prices in Estonia rose by 9.2% and in Latvia by 6%…
Finland’s NATO membership opens up new opportunities for defence and security cooperation between Estonia and Finland, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas stated, The Baltic Times reports. Speaking during Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s official visit to Estonia, Kallas said that Finland’s accession has bolstered NATO as a whole and the security of the Baltic Sea…
Latvia’s Riga City Council has appointed Vilnis Kirsis (New Unity) as acting mayor, following the resignation of mayor Martins Stakis, The Baltic Times reports. Meanwhile, city councillor Miroslavs Kodis said that the political group of Movement For and Progressives was considering proposing deputy mayor Linda Ozola of the Code for Riga party as acting mayor…
Lithuania’s President, Gitanas Nauseda, called for revising existing national sanctions laws to impose stricter entry restrictions on Belarusian citizens, LRT reports. Speaking in an interview with BNS, Nauseda cited concerns over the potential presence of mercenaries from Russia’s private military company, Wagner Group, in Belarus. Parliamentary speaker Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen argued that there was no need…
NATO has agreed on new regional defence plans for the Baltic States and Poland, but is still finalising the documents of the forthcoming summit in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, Lithuania’s Defence Minister, Arvydas Anusauskas, announced, BNS reports. He said that some countries are still trying to hold the documents until agreement is reached on completely…
Lithuania’s government has approved an Indo-Pacific strategy to strengthen relations with partner countries in the East Asia region, The Baltic Times reports. The Foreign Ministry said that strategy outlined Lithuania’s key interests and priority areas in the region, with a focus on enhancing the country’s security and economic prosperity. The document recognises the increasing strategic…
Data available on state financial support to Estonian companies are incomplete and thus less usable, according to an analysis by the National Audit Office (Riigikontroll), ERR reports. Märt Loite, auditor general at Riigikontroll’s analysis department, sent a note to Finance Minister Mart Võrklaev (Reform), highlighting concerns regarding the integrity and usability of the data. In…
The Estonian Reform Party has seen an increase in voter support, while support for its coalition partner, Estonia 200, continues to fall, according to the latest weekly Norstat poll published on 5 July 2023, ERR reports. The survey indicates that support for Reform currently stands at 27.4% of voters, followed by the Conservative People’s Party…