The Lithuanian tour operator, Join UP! Baltic, will move its charter flights to Egypt from Vilnius to Kaunas as of 17 December 2025 due to disruptions caused by smuggler balloons from Belarus, BNS reports. Lithuania’s airport operator, Lietuvos Oro Uostai (LTOU), said that the tour operator’s flights to Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh would operate from…
Latvian universities will begin switching to spring admission for new students, LSM reports. In 2026, around half of all institutions of higher education in Latvia will accept students into some study programmes in spring instead of summer, according to Andris Teikmanis, chairman of the Council of Higher Education (AIP). Previously, admission to universities began in…
Estonia’s and Latvia’s state-owned passenger train operators, Elron and Pasazieru Vilciens (Vivi), will open a regular train service from Tallinn via Tartu to the Latvian capital, Riga, on 12 January 2026, ERR reports. Elron received permission from the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) to use three new Stadler FLIRT diesel trains on Latvian railway…
The Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, has approved in first reading amendments to make it easier to dismiss the director general of the country’s public broadcaster, Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT), BNS reports. Altogether 76 MPs voted for, 50 against, and none abstained. Almost all MPs from the ruling three-party coalition backed the bill. The…
Latvia’s Riga city council plans to sell the municipal housing company, Rigas Namu Parvaldnieks (RNP), LETA reports. Under the proposal, RNP would be reorganised and converted into a joint-stock company before the sale through a public securities offering. The plan is first to sell 51% of RNP’s shares. Individual investors would be a able to…
The Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu, has rejected the opposition Estonian Centre Party’s (Keskerakond) proposal to lower the VAT on basic food products to 9%, ERR reports. No MPs voted against the proposal, but 42 MPs, mostly from the ruling coalition, abstained. Under the proposal, the VAT on specific categories of food, including vegetables and dairy,…
The Baltic States and Poland can become a bridge to reinforce relations with the United States, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics said, LETA reports. Speaking at a joint press conference with visiting Polish President Karol Nawrocki in Riga, Rinkevics called on countries in the region to ensure that transatlantic ties are strengthened rather than weakened. He…
Russian businessman Vladimir Antonov, former owner of Lithuania’s collapsed Snoras bank, has been detained in France under a European Arrest Warrant issued by the Lithuanian Prosecutor General’s Office, BNS reports. Antonov was detained in Baden on 9 December 2025. Prosecutor General Nida Grunskiene said that work was underway to have him extradited to Lithuania. She…
The chairman of the supervisory council of Latvia’s state-owned railway operator, Latvijas Dzelzcels (LDz), Andris Liepins, and council member Reinis Ceplis have resigned, LETA reports. They highlighted the strategic transformation at LDz during their tenure. Liepins and Ceplis were appointed to LDz’s council in 2019. They will serve in their positions until the end of…