Foreign-registered ships made altogether 2,741 visits at Latvian ports in the first half of 2025, which was down 7.1% from 2,949 visits in the same period of 2024, according to data from the Maritime Administration of Latvia (LJA), LETA reports. Foreign ships entered the Freeport of Riga 1,293 times, the Port of Liepaja 616 times,…
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,…
Latvia’s relations with the US are deep and positive, Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze assured, LETA reports. Speaking in an interview with LTV, Braze noted said that US President Donald Trump’s administration appreciated Latvia for being a good ally and for not engaging in public “loud rhetoric.” Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met…
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics has proposed amendments to simplify the procedure to initiate public referendums, LETA reports. He proposed halving the number of signatures needed to 5% of those who took part in the last parliamentary election and shortening the time to collect signatures to six months. If the 5% threshold is met, the Central…
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,…
There can be no lasting peace in Ukraine without the US, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics stated, LETA reports. Speaking in an interview with TV24, he noted that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump clearly had serious differences of opinion. However, the most important thing at the moment was not to exacerbate the…
The leaders of the three Baltic States held a video conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to discuss the war in Ukraine and European security on 2 March 2025, ERR reports. Starmer apologised for not inviting the Baltic States to a summit of European leaders in London, LRT reported. Asta Skaisgiryte, chief foreign policy…
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics plans to propose lowering the threshold for holding public referendums on legislative changes, LSM reports. Rinkevics discussed the issue with Prime Minister Evika Silina and leaders of parliamentary groups, LETA reported. He will invite constitutional experts to join the discussions. Edmunds Jurevics, leader of New Unity’s parliamentary group, and Harijs Rokpelnis,…
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…
