Over half of Latvian municipalities have new mayors following local elections on 7 June 2025, LETA reports. Municipal councils elected altogether 22 new chairpersons, while 20 incumbent mayors remained in office. Political groups that received the most votes failed to secure the mayorship in 12 municipalities, including in Riga, Jelgava, and Ventspils. In some municipalities,…
The number of passengers using train transport in Latvia totalled 8,989,953 in the first half of 2024, which was 767,317 (9.3%) more than in the same period of 2023, according to the country’s state-owned passenger train operator, Pasazieru Vilciens (Vivi), LSM reported. Electric trains on suburban routes carried 8,024,544 passengers, which was 89% of the…
Russian fascist symbols continue to appear in public places in Latvia, LSM reports. In the latest incident, the letters Z and V, which indicate support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, were spray-painted onto a bus stop along the Jelgava highway in Olaine. Public outcry prompted state road management company Latvijas Valsts Celi to…
Latvia’s Institute of Agricultural Resources and Economics (AREI) compared prices of food products in Maxima and Rimi stores in the Baltic States in June-July 2023, LETA reports. The institute found that in Maxima stores, prices of 43% of products in Lithuania, 32.7% in Latvia, and 31.8% in Estonia were more expensive than in the other…
The Estonian Competition Authority (Konkurentsiamet) has approved Finnish meat processing group HKScan’s sale of its Baltic businesses to Estonia’s Maag Grupp, LSM reports. However, Maag Grupp will have to sell two of its major food brands, Rannamõisa and Rannarootsi Lihatööstus, ERR reports. Under the deal signed in December 2022, Maag Grupp will acquire HKScan’s Rakvere…
Planned new wind energy projects in Latvia would be sufficient to generate electricity for more than half of the country, LSM reports. At the moment, wind energy accounts for just under 3% of Latvia’s electricity production, according to the Ministry of Climate and Energy. Lasma Livzeniece, executive director of the Latvian Wind Energy Association (LVEA),…