The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Latvian parliament, the Saeima, Rihards Kols (National Alliance), urged member states of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to designate the Russian private military company, Wagner Group, as a terrorist organisation, LSM reports. Speaking at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly meeting in Vancouver, Canada,…
Coalition partners in Latvia’s Riga City Council — New Unity, Code for Riga, National Alliance, and the Latvian Association of Regions (LRA) — are in talks to establish a new coalition, LETA reports. The factions regard the decision of mayor Martins Stakis to step down as “counterproductive” and emphasised the need to prevent snap elections,…
Latvia’s Education Minister Anda Čakša (New Unity) refused to resign as demanded by the Latvian Trade Union of Education and Science Employees (LIZDA), LSM reports. She insisted that her actions as minister thus far had provided no grounds for such a demand. Čakša recognised the need to address the budgetary allocation for teacher salaries during…
Finland’s new Prime Minister, Petteri Orpo, will visit Estonia on 5 July 2023 to meet with Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and President Alar Karis, ERR reports. This will be Orpo’s first official foreign visit since being sworn in on 20 June 2023. The two prime ministers will discuss bilateral relations, regional security, and EU…
Estonian energy group Alexela reported revenue of more than EUR 620mn in 2022, which was up almost 70% from around EUR 368mn in 2021, ERR reports. The group’s annual profit amounted to EUR 14.6mn, which was up 75% from EUR 8.3mn a year earlier. Alexela attributed the rise in profit to an increase in the…
Strong winds and high waves disrupted ferry services to Estonia’s smaller islands on 3 July 2023, BNS reported. Ferry operator Kihnu Veeteed cancelled departures of the Kihnu Virve and Soela passenger ferries were cancelled during the day. Also, the Ormsö passenger ferry did not accept heavy vehicles on the Sviby-Rohuküla route.
Estonia’s Ministry of Justice is undertaking efforts to improve the clarity and transparency of electronic voting rules, aligning them with the guidelines provided by the Supreme Court, BNS reports. The changes will elevate e-voting documentation to a higher decision-making level. Previously, the responsibility for the documentation largely rested with the National Electoral Committee and the…
Food prices in Estonia continued to rise sharply in June 2023 compared to the year before but remained relatively stable from a month earlier, according to data from the Estonian Institute of Economic Research (EKI), ERR reports. The price increases were particularly notable for meat and dairy products. The price of sugar has risen from…
Estonia’s Information System Authority (RIA) recorded around 550 phishing scams, where scammers tricked individuals into revealing their bank card details and PIN codes, in the first five months of 2023, ERR reports. The agency also documented around 1,200 incidents that compromised the confidentiality and availability of data or information systems. Additionally, RIA detected around 5,000…