Estonia: Insufficient data on state support to companies: audit

Data available on state financial support to Estonian companies are incomplete and thus less usable, according to an analysis by the National Audit Office (Riigikontroll), ERR reports. Märt Loite, auditor general at Riigikontroll’s analysis department, sent a note to Finance Minister Mart Võrklaev (Reform), highlighting concerns regarding the integrity and usability of the data. In…

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Estonia: Ericsson to build new production, technology centre in Tallinn

Swedish telecommunications technology company Ericsson plans to build a new manufacturing and technology facility in Estonia’s capital city of Tallinn, ERR reports. The company will invest EUR 155mn in the production centre in Tallinn’s Ülemiste City business park. Construction work is due to be completed by 2026. The facility will house testing laboratories, production lines,…

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Estonia: Editorials criticise proposed state control of free press

Estonia’s daily newspapers, Eesti Päevaleht and Postimees, strongly criticised in their editorials on 5 July 2023 the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority’s (TTJA) proposed legislation to monitor the truthfulness, impartiality, and balance of news programmes, ERR reports. Both editorials strongly rejected the notion of state intervention in media, emphasising the importance of media freedom…

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Latvia: PM Karins urges coalition partners to prioritise national interest

Latvia’s Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins, leader of the New Unity party, urged his coalition partners to prioritise the national interest and set aside personal ambitions and concerns about their posts, LETA reports. Karins expressed his disappointment that only opposition parties, namely the Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) and the Progressives, have attended talks initiated…

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Latvia: Agriculture Minister finally given access to official secrets

Latvia’s Minister of Agriculture, Didzis Šmits, has finally been given access to official secrets, the Agriculture Ministry announced, LETA reports. The Constitution Protection Bureau (SAB) confirmed that the minister has received a permit to access official secrets. Security agencies took six months to review his application. Šmits was the last minister without access to official…

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Latvia: European Commission approves EUR 305mn for transport infrastructure

The European Commission has approved a financing package of EUR 305mn from the Connecting Europe Facility for transport infrastructure projects in Latvia during the 2021-2027 financial period, the Ministry of Transport announced, Baltic News Network reports. The ministry will allocate the funds to several key initiatives, including EUR 298mn for the Rail Baltica railway project,…

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Lithuania: Europe ignoring Baltic warnings yet again: Grybauskaite

Europe said that the Baltic States were right about Russia, but is ignoring us again, Lithuania’s former president, Dalia Grybauskaite, said, LRT reports. Speaking at a conference on the war in Ukraine at Vilnius University, Grybauskaite noted that when Baltic politicians warned Western leaders after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014, they were ignored,…

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