A new law in Estonia will allow ships sailing under the Estonian flag to employ private armed security guards in high-risk zones, enhancing protection against piracy and armed robbery, ERR reports. The move aims to boost the international appeal of the Estonian flag by enabling shipowners to contract security services more flexibly. Security personnel can…
Estonia’s ruling Estonian Reform Party, Social Democratic Party (SDE), and Estonia 200 (E200) have started negotiations on forming a new coalition, ERR reports. The three parties hope to reach an agreement by the end of July 2024. The parties form outgoing Prime Minister Kaja Kallas’s coalition government. The new coalition would be led by Reform’s…
Lithuania has the biggest installed capacity of wind energy in the Baltic States, according to Toms Naburgs, managing director of the Latvian Wind Energy Association (LVEA), LSM reports. Lithuania has 1,400 MW of installed wind turbines, compared to 400 MW in Estonia and just 140 MW in Latvia. Moreover, Lithuania is building and planning even…
NATO must be ready for Russia turning even more hostile in the decade to come, Estonian President Alar Karis warned, ERR reports. Speaking after a meeting with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda in Vilnius, Karis said that Russia would remain NATO’s most serious military threat for a very long time. He called on NATO allies to…
The Estonian government will tighten controls on the transit of goods subject to EU sanctions, Ukrainska Pravda reports. Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said that attempts to evade sanctions continued to occur on the border with Russia. She noted that the EU’s latest sanctions package exacerbated the threats. The government will therefore replace the present risk-based…
Tax-free income in Estonia totalled EUR 4.15bn in 2023, according to the Ministry of Finance, ERR reports. In 2023, the tax-free income threshold was EUR 704 per month for pensioners and EUR 654 for working-age individuals. The ministry does not have a current forecast on the amount of tax-free income in 2024. Former prime minister…
Estonia has sent Mistral anti-aircraft missile systems to Ukraine, Fakti reports. The French-made short-range missiles can be used against low-flying aircraft and helicopters. The missiles can be fired by individual servicemen or mounted on vehicles, ships, or helicopters. In June 2024, Estonia signed a joint contract with France, Cyprus, and Hungary to replenish its stocks…
The Estonian Transport Administration (Transpordiamet) has mapped around 75% of the country’s seabed so far, ERR reports. The work to survey Estonia’s entire maritime area has been going on for many years and may still take more than 15 years to complete. The seabed survey has not yet reached the area west of Saaremaa and…
The leaders of the Baltic States condemned Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s visit to Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin, GNA reports. Outgoing Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, who has been nominated as the EU’s new foreign policy chief, said that Orban was “exploiting the EU presidency position to sow confusion.” Lithuanian President Gitanas…
