The municipal water utility of the Latvian port city of Liepaja, Liepajas Udens, has managed to stop the leakage of raw sewage from its wastewater plant into the Baltic Sea, LSM reports. The company has resumed the operation of the wastewater treatment plant on a temporary basis. Earlier, part of a wall of a sewage…
Authorities in Lithuania’s port city of Klaipeda have recommended people not to swim in the Baltic Sea, following a leak of sewage from a water treatment plant in Latvia’s Liepaja, LRT reports. Authorities are now analysing samples to determine the quality of the water. Latvia’s State Environmental Service (VVD) assured that the sewage leak posed…
Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, Transport Minister Marius Skuodis, and Agriculture Minister Kestutis Navickas have sent a joint letter to the European Commission, in which they call for helping Ukraine export more grain via the Baltic States, BNS reports. The ministers argued that Baltic ports, railways, and roads could serve as a viable alternative route…
The Estonian Competition Authority (Konkurentsiamet) has approved Finnish meat processing group HKScan’s sale of its Baltic businesses to Estonia’s Maag Grupp, LSM reports. However, Maag Grupp will have to sell two of its major food brands, Rannamõisa and Rannarootsi Lihatööstus, ERR reports. Under the deal signed in December 2022, Maag Grupp will acquire HKScan’s Rakvere…
The climate and energy ministers of the three Baltic States have agreed to bring forward the synchronisation of the Baltic power grids with the continental European system to February 2025, BNS reports. The national transmission system operators will now agree on the technical details, after which the prime ministers of the three countries will make…
Experts expect the growth of food prices in Latvia to continue falling, LETA reports. Noris Kruzitis, head of the Latvian Food Retailers Association (LPTA), projected that the growth of food prices would continue to slow down by 3-4 percentage points in the coming months. Inguna Gulbe, head of the Agricultural Market Promotion Centre (LTVC), said…
Latvia’s Health Ministry has proposed amendments to further restrict the availability of alcohol, LSM reports. The amendments would reduce the sales hours of alcoholic beverages, ban sales of alcohol at petrol stations, and raise the legal drinking age to 20 years. The ministry hopes that the amendments will reduce alcohol consumption, illness, injuries, and mortality….
Estonia’s Ministry of Climate has drawn up an updated national energy and climate plan that includes more ambitious renewable energy and climate neutrality targets, ERR reports. Under the plan, Estonia would produce all power from renewable energy sources by 2030 and be completely climate neutral by 2050. Climate Minister Kristen Michal asserted that the plan…
An overwhelming majority of Estonians oppose the introduction of a proposed car tax, according to a Norstat poll conducted in July 2023 for the Institute of Societal Studies (YI), ERR reports. The survey showed that 72% opposed and 21% supported the car tax. The remainder had no opinion. Altogether 80% of households polled had a…