Latvia’s Riga City Council may revise its property tax policy to address the issue of abandoned and empty shopfronts in the Old Town, LSM reports. Also, the city council has invested EUR 1.5mn in promoting Riga as a tourist destination and will launch a major redevelopment project for two streets in the Old Town to…
Russia has issued arrest warrants against Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, Deutsche Welle reports. This is the first time that Russia has opened a criminal case against an acting foreign head of government. The Russian Interior Ministry’s full database of wanted people, which was leaked to independent Russian media outlet Mediazona, indicated that Kallas and…
Latvia’s Riga City Council has elected New Unity’s Vilnis Kirsis as the capital city’s new mayor, LETA reports. Kirsis named street renovation, construction of new housing, and investment in education as his policy priorities. Kirsis served as acting mayor after the resignation of Martins Stakis, who represented the Progressives and Movement For, in early July…
Seven parties in Latvia’s Riga City Council have formed a new coalition, LSM reports. The memorandum of cooperation was signed by New Unity, National Alliance, Latvian Association of Regions (LRA), Code for Riga, Honour to Serve Riga (GKR), For Latvia’s Development (LA), and Movement For. Under the agreement, New Unity’s Vilnis Kirsis will become the…
Latvia’s Riga City Council is likely to elect New Unity’s Vilnis Kirsis as the city’s new mayor, LSM reports. Kirsis has served as acting mayor since previous mayor Martins Stakis resigned in early July 2023. The city council is scheduled to vote on the election of a new mayor on 17 August 2023. Kirsis said…
Latvia’s National Alliance, Latvian Association of Regions (LRA), Movement For, and Progressives have failed to reach agreement on reducing the number of deputy mayors in the Riga City Council, LSM reports. The combined political group of Movement For and Progressives wants to cut the number of deputy mayors from the current three to just one,…
Latvian capital Riga’s acting mayor, Vilnis Kirsis (New Unity), has invited all political groups in the current ruling coalition in the Riga City Council for talks to form a new coalition on 25 July 2023, LETA reports. Kirsis suggested that the talks could be held either with each political group individually or with all groups…
Parties in Latvia’s Riga City Council are still at odds with each other, acting mayor Vilnis Kirsis (New Unity) admitted, LETA reports. Following a meeting between New Unity and the combined faction of Movement For and the Progressives (PP), Kirsis said that “the spirit of compromise and cooperation had yet to be born on a…
Latvia’s New Unity and the combined faction of Movement For and Progressives (PP) will continue talks on possible future cooperation in the Riga City Council on 11 July 2023, Baltic News Network reports. A spokesman for the PP faction said that the group was not interested in snap elections, but in “returning to good management…
