Lithuania’s Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius and parliamentary speaker Juozas Olekas resisted calls for an independent inquiry into child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, BNS reported. Earlier, two local priests were charged with sexual offences against children. Sinkevicius insisted that any investigation was up to Church authorities. Olekas asserted that courts should do their work…
Lithuania’s conservative opposition Homeland Union has submitted to parliament a draft national agreement on demographics for 2026-2040, ELTA reports. The proposal would expand state support for first-time homebuyers, strengthen family policy and access to services, improve work-life balance, and encourage the return of Lithuanian emigrants. Earlier, Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius proposed a cross-party agreement on…
Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius urged the Catholic Church to cooperate in an investigation into child sexual abuse by two local priests, BNS reported. He called for answers on whether the Church had taken sufficient measures to detect, prevent, and report such abuse. “Moral authority mandates the highest standards of responsibility,” he stated. In the…
The number of children aged 0-17 years in Latvia totalled 334,233 in the beginning of 2026, which was down 2.7% from 343,555 a year earlier, according to the Central Statistical Bureau’s (CSP) data, LSM reported. Children accounted for 18.1% (18.5%) of Latvia’s population. The number of boys amounted to 171,836 (176,322) and girls to 162,486…
An interagency commission of the Estonian government has proposed several measures to reduce the consumption of alcohol in the country, ERR reports. The commission has published a framework plan for Estonia’s alcohol policy for 2026-2035. The document calls for raising the alcohol excise tax, shortening retail alcohol sales hours, reducing the number of licensed outlets,…
Three political groups in the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, have signed an agreement on a new coalition government, BNS reports. The new ruling coalition will include the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP), the Union of Democrats for Lithuania, and the joint parliamentary group of the Lithuanian Union of Farmers and Greens and the Electoral Action…
Three parties in Lithuania have agreed on a coalition programme and the number of ministerial posts in a new incoming government, LRT and ELTA reported. The Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (LSDP) will have nine ministers, while the Union of Democrats for Lithuania (DSVL) will have three and the Lithuanian Union of Farmers and Greens…
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommended that the Estonian government stabilise public debt by limiting budget spending and increasing revenue, ERR reports. IMF experts warned that if current policies continued, public debt would become unsustainable. GDP growth alone will not solve the country’s long-term challenges, they pointed out. Achieving more sustainable growth would require increasing…
Latvia’s population totalled 1.845 million people in the beginning of 2026, which was down 15,500 (0.83%) from a year earlier, according to data from the Central Statistical Bureau (CSP), LSM reported. The population declined in all regions. Altogether 69.8% of people lived in cities and 30.2% in rural areas, with 46.0% living in Riga region….
