A continuing confrontation between Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda and the government has delayed the appointment of a new ambassador to neighbouring Poland, LRT reports. The post has been vacant since September 2023, with Nauseda rejecting two candidates suggested by the government. The Office of the President has proposed changing the procedure for appointing ambassadors by…
Defects in new electric trains of Latvia’s state-owned carrier, Pasazieru Vilciens (Vivi), disrupted the daily commute of hundreds of passengers in the first week of 2024, LSM reported. The technical problems resulted in running cancellations and delays of many departures. Transport Minister Kaspars Briskens assured that most of the defects were “relatively trivial.” However, some…
The parliamentary group of Estonia’s opposition Estonian Centre Party (Keskerakond) will find it hard to recover from the exodus of MPs from the party, ERR’s Uku Toom estimates. The parliamentary group has dwindled from 26 MPs a year ago to just 7 today. The faction is therefore unlikely to have representatives in all parliamentary committees…
Housing prices in the Baltic States rose the fastest in Lithuania in the third quarter of 2023, according to Eurostat data, BNS reports. Housing prices rose by 8.7% over a year in Lithuania, 3.8% in Estonia, and 3.2% in Latvia. Compared to the second quarter of 2023, housing prices rose by 2.4% in Lithuania, but…
Lithuania’s Supreme Administrative Court has upheld a lower court decision not to grant asylum to Belarusian activist Volha Karach, BNS reports. Earlier, the Lithuanian Migration Department (LMD) rejected Karach’s asylum application on national security grounds, citing a report from the State Security Department (VSD), which pointed to the applicant’s links to Russian intelligence. Nevertheless, LMD…
The number of cars newly registered in Latvia totalled 18,000 in 2023, LSM reported. The most popular brands in the new car segment were Toyota (3,900), Skoda (2,350), and Volkswagen (2,000). In the second-hand car market, the most popular brands were BMW, Volkswagen, and Audi. The data showed that SUVs and 4×4 cars were the…
The number of new cars sold in Estonia totalled 22,820 in 2023, which was 11.7% more than in 2022, according to data from the Union of Estonian Car Sales and Service Enterprises (AMTEL), ERR reports. Sales were still short of the figure in 2019, when the number of new cars sold totalled 26,589. Hybrid vehicles…
There are not enough votes at the moment in the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, to tighten restrictions on Belarusian citizens, Laurynas Kasciunas, chairman of the parliament’s national security and defence committee, stated, BNS reports. Under existing legislation, Belarusians face fewer limitations than Russian citizens. President Gitanas Nauseda has demanded equal restrictions on Belarusians and Russians,…
Latvia supports prohibiting the import of Russian grain but will not impose a unilateral ban, parties in the coalition government announced, LSM reports. Instead, Latvia calls on EU member states to agree on a common position on the issue. At the same time, the government is instructing ministries to assess the impact of such a…