Lithuania’s incoming centre-left government has revealed its draft programme for the next four years, LRT reports. The new coalition plans to focus on welfare, with more child benefits and better accessibility to health care and education. Also, the government may make changes to tax policy, moving towards progressive taxation. The new government plans to reverse…
A four-year-old boy in Latvia died of diphtheria at the Children’s Clinical University Hospital (BKUS) in Riga on 16 September 2024, LSM reports. The boy was unvaccinated for the preventable disease. Four children, including two of the dead boy’s sisters, were treated for diphtheria at the hospital. The parents, who took the sisters out of…
Estonia’s Social Insurance Board (SKA) has cancelled child benefits for nearly 3,000 Estonian children who mostly live abroad since 2019, ERR reports. Signe Riisalo, Minister of Social Protection, pointed out that family benefits are only meant for people living in Estonia. People paying taxes in Estonia should not pay for benefits to people who do…
The Estonian government has agreed on switching to need-based social benefits in 2028, Education Minister Kristina Kallas announced, BNS reports. She argued that the state and taxpayers could no longer afford distributing equal support to everyone, and that doing so was not even necessary. Better data would allow the state to provide better personalised services, Kallas…
The Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, has voted to keep a civil union bill to recognise same-sex partnerships on the agenda of the parliament’s autumn session, BNS reports. Altogether 48 MPs voted to keep the bill on the agenda, another 48 were against, and 7 abstained. MPs initially supported the civil union bill in spring 2023….
The Estonian government will impose a lower ceiling on parental benefits and a cap on sickness benefits as of 2026, ERR reports. The government will reduce the maximum rate for parental benefits from the current three times the average wage to twice the average wage. The cut will affect around 3,500 people annually, or about…
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda was inaugurated as president for a second term on 12 July 2024, LRT reports. In his inaugural address, Nauseda pledged to strengthen national security, defend Lithuanian interests in foreign policy, continue supporting Ukraine, and foster ties with the US. He called for raising Lithuania’s defence budget to 4% of GDP by…
Underage marriages still occur in Lithuania primarily due to teenage pregnancies, despite a decline in recent years, LRT reports. Legislation allows courts to lower the legal marriage age of 18 in cases such as pregnancy. However, this practice has been criticised by the United Nations and children’s rights advocates, who argue that minors cannot give…
Lithuania’s ruling coalition has failed to secure enough votes to pass the law on civil union, Ausrine Armonaite, chairwoman of the Freedom Party, conceded, BNS reports. She said that legalising same-sex unions did not receive sufficient support from Freedom Party’s coalition partners, Homeland Union (TS-LKD) and the Lithuanian Liberal Movement (LLS). Armonaite estimated that 66…