Latvia has taken over the presidency of the Baltic Council of Ministers (BCM) for 2025, LSM reports. The focus of the Latvian presidency will be on regional security and resilience, support for Ukraine, regional connectivity, energy security, and investments, the Latvian Foreign Ministry stated. Latvia would pay special attention to external borders, civil protection and…
Lithuania’s new government plans to establish a new ministry for regional policy, Interior Minister Vladislav Kondratovic announced, Baltic News Network reports. He suggested that the new ministry could be operational in 2026 and be located outside Vilnius, ELTA reported. He said that Lithuania would build on Poland’s “good practice and experience” in creating the ministry….
Latvia’s national airline, airBaltic, has announced that it will cancel flights on 19 routes and reduce flights on 21 routes in summer 2025 due to engine maintenance, LSM reports. The company will cancel flights from Riga to Aberdeen, Belgrade, Cluj-Napoca, Gothenburg, Mykonos, Pristina, Rzeszów, Skopje, Stavanger, and Yerevan. Also, the company will cancel flights from…
Raising Lithuania’s defence spending to 4% of GDP would allow the country’s new army division to reach full operational capacity by 2030, Lithuania’s defence chief, General Raimundas Vaiksnoras, stated, Baltic News Network reports. Lithuania’s new government has increased its borrowing limit for 2025 by around EUR 800mn. The full amount would raise the defence budget…
Lithuania’s new government plans to ease export controls on dual-use goods, LRT reports. Economy Minister Lukas Savickas said that the previous government had imposed the restrictions without consulting businesses first. He insisted that the restrictions must not harm exporters of high-tech products and should only be imposed if companies violate existing sanctions. An industry representative…
Lithuania’s state-owned investment firm EPSO-G Invest and ammunition manufacturer Giraites Ginkluotes Gamykla (GGG) have signed an agreement to establish a joint venture, Rheinmetall Defence Lithuania, with German defence industry group Rheinmetall, Baltic News Network reports. Under the agreemnt, the companies will invest in an artillery ammunition plant in the town of Baisogala in Lithuania’s Radviliskis district. Rheinmetall…
People in Lithuania are more optimistic about the economy, according to a new Baltijos Tyrimai poll for ELTA conducted in October-November 2024, Lietuvos Rytas reports. The survey showed that 40% of respondents believed that the country’s economic situation had deteriorated in the past two months, which was down from 54% a year earlier. Meanwhile, 43%…
The Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union (LVZS) will elect a new chairperson for the opposition party on 1 March 2025, ELTA reports. The party’s long-time leader, Ramunas Karbauskis, has not disclosed if he intends to run for another four-year term. He has led LVZS and its predecessor parties since 1997. LVZS suffered a heavy defeat…
Lithuania has stepped up monitoring of the NordBalt power cable linking Lithuania and Sweden, Energy Minister Zygimantas Vaiciunas announced, ELTA reports. Speaking in an interview with Ziniu Radijas, Vaiciunas noted that the undersea power interconnection was very important for Lithuania’s electricity market. He stressed that the response to acts of sabotage on critical infrastructure should…