Latvia’s Public Electronic Mass Media Council (SEPLP) has told the state-owned TV channel, LTV7, to provide all content in Latvian only as of 1 January 2025, BNS reports. Currently, LTV7 carries programmes in Russian as well. Earlier, the Latvian parliament, the Saeima, approved a new national security concept that obliges Latvia’s public broadcasters to have…
Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze has called for severing economic ties with Russia and Belarus “to the maximum,” LSM reports. She insisted that Latvia must continue to decontaminate itself from Russian influence, stressing that economic security was as important for national security as military security. Braze reiterated the need for robust EU sanctions against Russia…
Latvia’s Constitutional Court has upheld the constitutionality of the transition to school education in Latvian only, LETA reports. The transition follows legislative amendments passed in October 2022. The court found that weekly tuition in minority languages and cultural history sufficiently supports the preservation of minority identities. Earlier, the European Court of Human Rights supported the…
Lithuania’s Justice Minister, Ewelina Dobrowolska, warned against “populism” over the issue of Russian schools, BNS reported. Earlier, Education Minister Gintautas Jakstas suggested that Lithuania follow Estonia and Latvia in closing Russian schools. Speaking in an interview with Ziniu Radijas, Dobrowolska conceded that minority education faced challenges but insisted that they be dealt with by ensuring…
Lithuania’s Education Minister, Gintautas Jakstas, has proposed phasing out secondary education in Russian, following the Latvian and Estonian example, BNS reports. He suggests focusing on EU languages. The Ministry of Education is exploring ways to suspend Russian as a language of tuition, with a proposal expected soon. Jakstas emphasised that Russian schools would not be…
If Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda decides to veto the government’s bill on gender-neutral civil unions, it would cause an “international scandal,” Economy Minister Ausrine Armonaite, chairwoman of the liberal Freedom Party, stated, BNS reports. Speaking in an interview on Ziniu Radijas, Armonaite urged Nauseda to take a stronger position on “defending European values.” Nauseda has not…
Lithuania’s State Commission of the Lithuanian Language (VLKK) recently ordered the authorities in Vilnius district municipality to remove bilingual Lithuanian-Polish signs in the villages of Azulauke and Bieliskes, LRT reports. The municipality refused to comply and took the issue to the Administrative Disputes Commission, which found that VLKK’s order was unlawful and unfounded. Audrius Valotka,…
Lithuania’s Constitutional Court ruled that legislation allowing the spelling of names of Lithuanian citizens in Latin-based non-Lithuanian characters in official documents does not violate the country’s Constitution, Baltic News Network reports. A group of 30 MPs, mostly from the opposition Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union (LVZS), had petitioned the court over the constitutionality of the…
Exiled Russian liberal opposition leader, economist Vladimir Milov, says Russians are not welcome in Latvia and advises Russian emigrants to leave the country, LSM reports. Speaking in an interview with LSM’s Russian service, Milov noted that the pro-Russian position of many Russian-speakers in Latvia leaves an imprint on all Russians. "Even if you are the…