Over 7,700 people in Latvia have signed a public petition against withdrawing from the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention on violence against women and domestic violence, LSM reports. Earlier, several parties in the Latvian parliament, the Saeima, signalled that they might vote to revoke Latvia’s ratification of the human rights treaty. The Union of Greens…
Lithuania’s newly-appointed Culture Minister, Ignotas Adomavicius, has refused to resign despite mass protests across the country against his appointment, BNS reports. Adomavicius is a member of the far-right Dawn of Nemunas party. Cultural workers have held protests in several cities, insisting that Adomavicius is unfit to head the Ministry of Culture as he has no…
A public petition in Latvia is collecting signatures to restrict or ban US entrepreneur Elon Musk’s social media platform, X (former Twitter), in Latvia, BNS reports. The author of the legislative initiative, Gvido Grava, notes that an increasing volume of disinformation is being spread on X. He points out that X fails to comply with…
The Latvian government is discussing possible changes to second-tier pension funds, LETA reports. The Latvian parliament, the Saeima, will consider a public initiative opposing the government’s plan to reduce automatic second-tier pension contributions, LSM reports. The petition collected the necessary signatures in record short time. The government has proposed transferring 1% of second-pillar pension funds…
A public petition in Latvia is collecting signatures for a ban on the Chinese social media network, TikTok, LSM reports. The author of the initiative, Arturs Babuskins, stated that the social media application was used to “glorify Russian crimes, incite hatred, and divide society.” Moreover, the petition cites data security concerns. Public petitions need at…
A public petition against the Estonian government’s planned car tax collected 65,565 signatures by its close on 31 August 2023, ERR reports. The Estonian Car Owners Association (EAOL) initiated the petition in the middle of July 2023. The number of signatures is the highest ever for public petitions on the Citizen Initiative Portal (Rahvaalgatus). The…
More than 50,000 people in Estonia have signed a public petition against the introduction of a car tax, BNS reports. The petition is thus the most successful public petition to date in Estonia. The petition is open until 31 August 2023. Priit Tammeraid, board chairman of the Estonian Car Owners Association (EAOL), said that the…