Greece’s national air carrier, Aegean Airlines, will open direct flights from Lithuania’s Vilnius International Airport to Athens in April 2024, LRT reports. The company will have two flights per week on the new route until the end of October 2024, using Airbus A320 aircraft. Aegean Airlines has not previously operated regular flights in Lithuania, airport…
The Latvian parliament, the Saeima, has approved in final reading amendments to merge the country’s public broadcasters, Latvijas Televizija (LTV) and Latvijas Radio, in 2025, LETA reported. Under the plan, the two companies will merge into a new public broadcasting corporation, Latvijas Sabiedriskais Medijs (LSM). Latvijas Radio’s trade union objected to the plan, arguing that…
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas may succeed Josep Borrell as the EU’s next foreign policy chief, Politico reports. Kallas leads the Estonian Reform Party, which is part of the liberal Renew Europe group in the European Parliament. However, she could face some resistance due to her tough stance on Russia, Politico suggested. Earlier, Kallas argued…
The Presidium of the Baltic Assembly has demanded “immediate efforts in Europe” to ensure total victory for Ukraine in the war against Russia, LSM reported. In their statement, the Baltic parliamentarians insisted that support for Ukraine must be “continuous, sufficient, timely, and far-sighted.” They warned other European parliaments not to underestimate the long-term impact on…
The West must take care of its own security instead of worrying about Russia’s future, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis stated, BNS reported. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Landsbergis pointed to “increasingly louder concerns” about Russia’s future in the West. He insisted that Russia has to solve its own problems, and that…
The number of unemployed people in Latvia totalled 63,100 at the end of 2023, which was 700 more than in the same period of 2022, according to the Central Statistical Bureau’s (CSP) estimate, LSM reports. The country’s actual unemployment rate stood at 6.6%, which was unchanged from a year earlier. The number of unemployed men…
Estonia’s Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) has refused to extend the residence permit of Metropolitan Eugene (Valery Reshetnikov) of the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, ERR reports. The head of the Russian church in Estonia will therefore have to leave the country by 6 February 2024. Despite repeated warnings, Reshetnikov has continued…
The defence ministers of the Baltic States have signed an agreement on building “anti-mobility defensive installations” on their borders with Russia and Belarus, Estonia’s Defence Ministry announced, ERR reports. The Baltic defence line will include bunkers, support points, and distribution lines. Estonia plans to begin building the bunkers in early 2025. The number of bunkers…
The Lithuanian Migration Department (LMD) has not found any more Lithuanian citizens with family ties to individuals subject to EU sanctions, BNS reports. LMD checked 3,571 individuals on sanctions lists and found that none of them or their spouses or children currently hold Lithuanian citizenship. LMD director Evelina Gudzinskaite said that earlier information, which indicated…