The Latvian government has confirmed the appointment of Armands Ruks for another five-year term as chief of the Latvian State Police until October 2030, LSM reports. Ruks was first appointed to the post in October 2020. He said that his priorities in his second term of office would be to build police capacity, combat violence,…
Estonia’s annual GDP totalled EUR 39.5bn at current prices in 2024, which was down 0.3% from 2023, according to data from Statistics Estonia, ERR reports. In the fourth quarter of 2024, the GDP totalled EUR 10.6bn, which was up 1.2% from a year earlier. This marked the end of ten quarters of recession in the…
The education inequality gap is widening between generations in Estonia, according to a new study, ERR reports. The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) test shows that education inequality is growing faster in Estonia than in other OECD countries. Inequality has deepened in terms of education, language, and especially age. Young people’s…
Latvia’s general government deficit totalled EUR 849.6mn in 2024, according to the methodology of the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010), the Ministry of Finance announced, LETA reports. The deficit amounted to 2.1% of GDP, which was 0.3 percentage points lower than in 2023. The general government debt totalled EUR 19bn at the end of…
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda does not expect the country’s three-party coalition government to survive, BNS reports. Earlier, Remigijus Zemaitaitis, chairman of the far-right Dawn of Nemunas party, expressed doubts about raising defence spending and labelled Ukraine a corrupt country, LRT reported. Speaking in an interview with Verslo Zinios, Nauseda accused Zemaitaitis of discrediting “not only…
The four policy priorities of Latvia’s coalition government in 2025 are “security, support for families, economic growth, and reducing bureaucracy,” Prime Minister Evika Silina announced, LSM reports. She will begin individual meetings with ministers to discuss the priorities, according to LETA. Silina said that national security remained the government’s most pressing priority, highlighting the need…
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda called for a quick review of restrictions on the export of dual-use goods, BNS reports. Earlier, Economy Minister Lukas Savickas proposed relaxing the restrictions urgently. The previous government banned the export by air of several goods that Russia could use in its war against Ukraine to most third countries. Speaking in…
Parties in Latvia’s coalition government have postponed decisions on possible changes to the management of the country’s national air carrier, airBaltic, LSM reports. Prime Minister Evika Silina said that the government would wait for decisions of airBaltic’s shareholders. She noted that airBaltic was partly privately-owned, and that the government did not manage the company directly….
Latvia’s national air carrier, airBaltic, has no plans to ask the government for more money, CEO Martin Gauss stated, LSM reports. Speaking in an interview with LTV, Gauss said that the company had to raise additional capital from international investors on the stock market instead. Earlier, Klavs Vasks, chairman of airBaltic’s supervisory board, surmised that…