The Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (EKRE) has no intention to make any concessions and will continue to obstruct the current coalition government’s work in the parliament, the Riigikogu, in autumn 2023, EKRE chairman Martin Helme stated, ERR reports. Earlier, the coalition suggested that opposition parties withdraw questions and legislative proposals so as not to…
Latvia’s President Edgars Rinkevics said that he had a plan if the current coalition government fails to agree on continued cooperation by the end of August 2023, LETA reports. He refused to reveal the plan, saying that he would leave it as “a potential surprise for when the time comes.” Rinkevics urged political parties taking…
Lithuania expects a plan for deploying a permanent German brigade in Lithuania to be completed by the end of September 2023, Defence Minister Arvydas Anusauskas announced, LRT reports. He said that a joint task group was now starting work on drawing up the plan. Earlier, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said that Germany expected to…
Latvia’s Ministry of Justice plans to propose amendments that would abolish conditional prison sentences, replacing them with probation, LSM reports. Anda Smiltena, deputy secretary of state at the Ministry of Justice, said that the State Probation Service’s (VPD) task would be to influence the thinking of the offender and correct their behaviour. The measures would…
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics has asked Prosecutor General Juris Stukans to explain why a Latvian citizen who provided support to Russia got away with just a fine, LSM reports. Earlier, a court found Marats Kasems, editor of Russian propaganda agency Sputnik’s Lithuanian edition, guilty of supporting Russia’s activities against Latvia and sentenced him to a…
The European Commission will refer Estonia to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for failure to transpose the European Competition Network (ECN+) Directive into national legislation, ERR reports. The ECN+ Directive enables national competition authorities to enforce EU antitrust rules more effectively by ensuring their independence, resources, and enforcement tools. EU member states were required…
Estonia’s Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas, suggested that local businessman Parvel Pruunsild, majority owner of Bigbank, made major donations to opposition parties in order to break up the first coalition government that Kallas headed, ERR reports. In response, Pruunsild’s lawyer sent a letter to Kallas, demanding that she retract her statement and issue an apology. Kallas…
Lithuania’s Ministry of Justice has proposed amendments to a controversial law that protects minors from information about LGBT people, LRT reports. The ministry proposed removing a provision stipulating that “information that denigrates family values and promotes a different concept of marriage and family” than the one enshrined in the Constitution is harmful to minors. The…
NATO’s summit in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, was “truly historic,” Lithuania’s former chief of defence, Lieutenant General Valdas Tutkus, stated, Baltic News Network reports. He noted that the Baltic States received new security guarantees. Tutkus cautioned that the most “populist” demands could, if things went awry, lead to another world war. He argued that not…