Latvia will hold local elections to municipal councils on 7 June 2025, the Central Election Commission (CVK) announced, LSM reports. The elections will use newly designed ballot papers, ensuring automatic counting of votes. Voters can indicate both support and opposition to individual candidates on the ballot.
The Latvian parliament, the Saeima, has approved the state budget for 2025, LSM reports. The budget foresees revenues of EUR 18.4bn, while expenditure is planned at EUR 19.7bn. The estimated budget deficit will thus amount to EUR 1.3bn or 2.9% of the GDP. The key budget priorities are internal and external security and competitiveness. The…
Estonian parties disagree on proposed amendments to suspend the voting rights of third-country nationals, including Russian citizens, ERR reports. The Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu, has approved the amendments in first reading with support from the ruling coalition’s Estonian Reform Party and Estonia 200 as well as the opposition’s Fatherland (Isamaa) and Conservative People’s Party of…
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has proposed establishing a new ministry responsible for regional policy, BNS reports. Speaking at a forum of regional policymakers in Vilnius, Nauseda said that the new ministry would help increase the autonomy of local governments and coordination between different ministries. He suggested that the new ministry could take over functions from…
Ukraine’s ambassador to Latvia, Anatolii Kutsevol, has asked the Latvian parliament, the Saeima, to pass a law to ban twin town agreements between Latvian municipalities and local governments in Russia and Belarus, LSM reports. In a letter to the parliament’s committee on public administration and local government, Kutsevol argued that such forms of cooperation were…
Estonia’s ruling coalition plans to lower the country’s voting age in all elections to 16 years, ERR reports. The coalition has agreed on cutting the minimum voting age in elections to the European Parliament. Under the plan, teenagers would be able to vote in European elections in 2029. The coalition parties want to cut the…