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,…
Estonia’s Political Parties Financing Surveillance Committe (ERJK) has asked six political parties whether they received services that may be classified as prohibited donations from the Liberal Citizen Foundation (SALK), ERR reports. ERJK sent the inquiries to current ruling coalition parties Estonian Reform Party, Estonia 200, the Social Democratic Party (SDE), as well as the opposition’s…
Latvia will soon have several new ambassadors, LSM reports. Latvia’s former long-term ambassador to Russia, Maris Riekstins, will become Latvia’s new permanent representative to NATO. Riekstins served in the same post in 2011-2025 as well. Meanwhile, Sanita Pavluta-Deslandes will replace Andrejs Pildegovics as Latvia’s ambassador to the United Nations. Also, Solveiga Silkalna, former adviser to…
The Principality of Monaco may establish a permanent office in the Latvian capital, Riga, The Baltic Times reports. Andris Kuznieks, deputy head of the European Commission’s representation in Latvia, offered premises for regular cultural activities to showcase Monaco. The issue was discussed during a visit to Latvia by Professor Franco Borruto, consultant on health care…
The movements of the Russian private military company, Wagner Group, in Belarus do not present any direct threat to Latvia, the Ministry of Defence stated, LETA reports. The ministry noted that Latvia’s national security authorities have been on high alert ever since Russia started its full invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics said…
Estonia and Latvia have put their national interests ahead of regional projects in regard to the synchronisation of the Baltic power grids with the contintental European system, Lithuania’s former energy minister, Arvydas Sekmokas, stated. Speaking in an interview with LRT, Sekmokas noted that Estonia seemed to want to postpone the synchronisation project to 2025 and…
Estonia has blocked a decision on the redistribution of seats in the European Parliament, LETA reports. All EU member states except Estonia have agreed on the redistribution, which would provide more seats to several member states. Estonia demanded that Spain, which holds the EU presidency, explain the calculation for the seat redistribution.
Lithuania is assembling a coalition of countries to help Ukraine’s demining efforts, Defence Minister Arvydas Anusauskas announced, BNS reports. He said that besides Lithuania, the coalition now included Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and soon Denmark. The minister invited other countries to join with their instructors and equipment. The demining mission will operate in territories liberated…
The Lithuanian government has nominated Rasa Jankauskaite as the country’s new ambassador to South Africa, BNS reports. If approved by President Gitanas Nauseda, Jankauskaite will assume office as of 1 September 2023. She said that one of her goals was to agree on visa-free travel for Lithuanian citizens to South Africa, which has a large…