The EU should cover costs related to confronting Russia, Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs stated, Politico reports. He said that the EU should grant an additional EUR 7bn from its next multi-annual budget to compensate for Latvia’s higher defence spending and loss of trade with Russia. Latvia’s projected defence spending over the seven-year budget period…
Estonia’s Chancellor of Justice, Ülle Madise, has officially confirmed that she is running for president, ERR reports. She said that the president’s duty was to safeguard Estonia’s “people, language, culture, nature, freedom, and peace,” stressing the importance of clean nature, of culture and atmosphere, of freedom and responsibility, and of a “caring and developing state.”…
Lithuania’s Culture Minister, Lukas Alsys, called for a systematic shift away from the use of Russian language in public administration, BNS reported. Speaking in an interview with Ziniu Radijas, Alsys stressed that government institutions and municipalities in Lithuania communicated in the state language, Lithuanian. However, the policy of phasing out Russian should take into account…
The Latvian government has decided to extend the repayment period on a EUR 30mn emergency loan issued to the country’s national airline, airBaltic, until the end of 2026, LSM reports. The loan was due by the end of August 2026. Also, the government gave conceptual approval to buying an additional EUR 30mn of airBaltic’s bonds…
Estonia’s non-parliamentary opposition party, Right-Wingers, has re-elected Lavly Perling as its chairwoman, ERR reported. She was the only candidate to the post. In her acceptance speech, Perling said that “painful decisions” were needed for Estonia not to lose the right to make decisions over its state finances. She insisted that state spending be frozen and…
Lithuania’s conservative opposition Homeland Union has submitted to parliament a draft national agreement on demographics for 2026-2040, ELTA reports. The proposal would expand state support for first-time homebuyers, strengthen family policy and access to services, improve work-life balance, and encourage the return of Lithuanian emigrants. Earlier, Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius proposed a cross-party agreement on…
Latvia’s United List continues to oppose the ratification of the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention on violence against women, but is not committed to withdrawing from the treaty immediately, Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs stated, LETA reports. He said that the question should not be made into a top political priority, given that the treaty had…
Estonia’s population totalled 1,360,745 people in the beginning of 2026, according to Statistics Estonia, ERR reported. The number of ethnic Estonians amounted to 932,603 people (68.5%) and Russians to 276,125 people (20.2%) of the total population. People of other ethnic nationalities numbered 146,619 (10.8%), including 75,250 (5.5%) Ukrainians, 11,477 Belarusians, 8,059 Finns, and 4,272 Latvians….
Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius urged the Catholic Church to cooperate in an investigation into child sexual abuse by two local priests, BNS reported. He called for answers on whether the Church had taken sufficient measures to detect, prevent, and report such abuse. “Moral authority mandates the highest standards of responsibility,” he stated. In the…
