The Estonian government’s planned new car tax will apply to used cars as well because of EU rules, ERR reports. Under the rules, the registration fee on cars will have to apply to second-hand vehicles already registered in Estonia. The government’s initial plan was for the fee to apply to imported vehicles only. The new…
Lithuanian Defence Minister Arvydas Anusauskas will resign, the government announced, LRT reports. Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte explained that the government wanted to do “more and faster” for Lithuania’s security. Anusauskas revealed that Simonyte had offered him another post but he had refused. The minister said that the offer to swap posts was “unexpected.” Simonyte named…
Estonia’s ruling coalition has abandoned a plan to change the current renewable energy fee, which would have raised EUR 60mn annually and shifted costs from consumers to the state, ERR reported. The senior party in the coalition government, the Estonian Reform Party, rejected the plan, citing concerns about the plan’s financial viability. The changes were…
Latvia’s Ministry of Finance has outlined its provisional plan for passing the 2025 state budget, LSM reports. Under the plan, the Finance Ministry will discuss budget goals with other ministries over March 2024 and submit stability programmes for 2024-2028 to the government, the parliament, and the European Commission for approval on 30 April 2024. The…
Members of the Estonia-Taiwan Support Group of the Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu, will visit Taiwan on 4-8 March 2024, ERR reports. The largest ever Estonian delegation to Taiwan, the MPs will meet with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, parliamentary speaker Han Kuo-yu, Prime Minister Chen Chien-jen, and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, as well as representatives of…
The Estonian government has failed to include a project to open a regular passenger train connection between Tartu and the Latvian capital, Riga, in its long-term budget plans for 2025-2027, ERR reports. The government points to concerns about a competing Latvian proposal that would entail lower costs but less convenient departure times. Nevertheless, the government…
The Estonian government has decided to sell the state’s entire stake in Nordic Aviation Group (NAG), operator of national air carrier Nordica, due to the company’s unprofitability and lack of strategic value, BNS reported. Nordica stopped offering flights from Tallinn in 2019 and now primarily provides subcontracting services. The government expects binding offers for the…
Estonia’s GDP totalled EUR 37.7 billion at current prices in 2023, which was down 3% from 2022, according to data from Statistics Estonia, ERR reported. Robert Müürsepp, national accounts team lead at Statistics Estonia, said that Estonia’s economy was in broad-based recession in 2023, with decline recorded in most major sectors. Information and communication had…
Around 2,000 farmers protested across Latvia against the government’s agriculture policies on 5 February 2024, according to the Farmers’ Parliament (ZSA), LSM reported. Police said that the protests passed peacefully with no significant incidents, LETA reported. Farmers staged rallies with agricultural machinery in altogether 16 cities, calling for a ban on imports of Russian and…