Estonia’s Minister of Economy and Industry, Erkki Keldo, has approved a national action plan to broaden equal opportunities and protections for LGBTIQ people, ERR reports. The plan sets goals to ensure that everyone in Estonia has equal opportunity to live a full, supported, and inclusive life, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or…
The Latvian parliament, the Saeima, has approved amendments reducing state support for Ukrainian refugees in Latvia, LSM reports. The government will allocate EUR 39.7mn of budget funds to support Ukrainians in the country in 2026, which will be down from EUR 65mn in 2025. The government will stop support to those Ukrainians who have found…
Estonia’s consumer price index rose by 3.5% in 2024 compared with 2023, according to revised data from Statistics Estonia. Changes in food and non-alcoholic beverage prices had the biggest impact on the index in 2024, accounting for 23.7% of the total rise. Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages rose by 3.2%, alcoholic beverages and tobacco…
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…
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…
The Latvian government is unlikely to satisfy the Health Ministry’s request for EUR 153.3mn of additional funding for hospitals in the 2025 state budget, LSM reports. Health Minister Hosams Abu Meri said that the money was needed for human resources, medicines, infrastructure, emergency services, digitalisation, and data security. However, the government has listed external and…
Lithuania has asked the European Commission (EC) to disburse EUR 463mn from the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), BNS reports. This is Lithuania’s third payment request under the facility. Lithuania asked for EUR 174.7mn in grants and EUR 288.3mn in loans. The EC will now assess the request and assess Lithuania’s achievement of the…
Lithuanian and German officials have signed an agreement on the rights of German troops, civilian personnel, and their families in Lithuania, BNS reports. The agreement was signed by the Lithuanian and German defence ministers, Laurynas Kasciunas and Boris Pistorius, as well as deputy foreign ministers Jonas Survila and Tobias Lindner, in Berlin. The agreement provides…