Latvia’s Ministry of Agriculture has proposed that a reduced VAT rate on fresh fruit, berries, and vegetables should remain in place in 2024 as well, Baltic News Network reports. The ministry’s report showed that fruit and vegetable farms in Latvia expanded more rapidly than in other EU countries in 2017-2022. At the same time, imports…
Lithuania’s Court of Appeal has upheld a ruling of the Vilnius Regional Court in the Energy Ministry’s case against French energy group Veolia, Baltic News Network reports. The court rejected appeals from Veolia, Vilniaus Energija, and Litesko against the Energy Ministry’s claim of EUR 240mn in compensation for damages caused to the state. The Court…
Senior officials from the Baltic states, Poland, and the European Commission met in Brussels and pledged to accelerate the synchronisation of the Baltic electricity grids with the continental European system, ERR reports. The current deadline for the synchronisation project is at the end of 2025. Timo Tatar, undersecretary of Estonia’s Ministry of Environment, said that…
Newspaper and magazine sales in Estonia fell in June 2023 compared to the same period of 2022, according to data from the Estonian Association of Media Enterprises (EML), ERR reports. Õhtuleht sold 32,000 (35,000) copies, followed by Maaleht with 31,700 (33,600), Eesti Ekspress with 19,000 (20,600), and Eesti Päevaleht with 8,600 (10,000) copies. Postimees stopped…
Lithuania’s Court of Appeal has partially granted a petition of the Algerian manufacturer of industrial equipment, Aero Delta, against the Lithuanian aircraft maintenance company, Aviabaltika, to arrest about EUR 980,000 of Aviabaltika’s assets, LRT reports. However, the court rejected Aero Delta’s request to arrest the assets of the newly-established company, Realest, to which Aviabaltika transferred…
Latvia’s State Revenue Service (VID) has decided to shut down the business operations of Klaugu Muiza, which is ultimately owned by sanctioned Russian billionaire Pyotr Aven, LETA reports. At the same time, VID banned any reorganisation of the company and change of board members. The company owns the Klaugu Manor in Lazdona parish. The EU…
Latvia’s President, Edgars Rinkevics, met with the governor of the Bank of Latvia, Martins Kazaks, to discuss issues related to the banking and financial sector, Baltic News Network reports. The officials noted that high lending costs weakened banks’ interest in providing lending services. Rinkevics called for a “radical change of direction” from Latvian commercial banks,…
Estonian media group Ekspress Grupp’s digital subscriptions totalled 175,379 at the end of the first half of 2023, which was nearly 34,000 (24%) more than in the same period of 2022, GlobeNewswire reported. The number of subscriptions rose by 9% in the second quarter of 2023 and 20% in the first six months of 2023….
The Estonian government has announced an emergency situation in the country’s agriculture sector due to adverse weather conditions in recent years, ERR reports. The declaration will ease regulatory and contractual obligations for farmers and other agricultural businesses, but will not entail financial support measures. Estonia has experienced exceptionally low rainfall and high temperatures in recent…