The Latvian parliament, the Saeima, has supported in first reading amendments that would ban vehicles with Belarusian licence plates in the country, LSM reports. Under the proposed amendments, vehicles registered in Belarus would have to be transferred out of the country or reregistered in Latvia by 31 October 2024 at the latest. Otherwise, the vehicle…
Lithuania plans to allocate more than 3% of its GDP to defence, President Gitanas Nauseda announced, BNS reports. Speaking during a joint press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw, Nauseda said that Lithuania would follow Poland’s example of raising defence spending. Also, he said that the two countries would soon begin training Ukrainian…
Raising Estonia’s defence spending to 5% of GDP would be unfeasible, Finance Minister Jürgen Ligi stated, ERR reports. Earlier, Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur suggested that NATO’s new defence plans meant that Estonia would have to raise its defence budget from the current 3% of GDP to somewhere less than 5% over a period of 20…
The Latvian government may impose a new surplus profit tax on individual banks as of 2025, Economy Minister Viktors Valainis has announced, LSM reports. The tax could be levied for two years. Valainis argued that the tax would incentivise banks to increase their lending significantly. Banks that increased their volume of lending could then be…
Estonian MPs visiting China should not have allowed China to pay for their travel costs, Marko Mihkelson, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu, stated, ERR reports. Pointing to China’s support for Russia’s war against Ukraine and opposition to NATO enlargement, Mihkelson said that it would have been better if…
Estonia was “very disappointed” that Mongolia decided to welcome Russian President Vladimir Putin, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said, BNS reports. He reminded that all parties to the Rome Statute are obligated to comply with the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Putin. The fact that the Mongolian government decided to…
The Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, has approved the nomination of former prime minister, MEP Andrius Kubilius for Lithuania’s EU commissioner, BNS reports. Altogether 70 MPs voted in favour and 24 against, while 15 abstained. Kubilius said that Lithuania should seek portfolios related to defence, security, and EU enlargement in the new European Commission. He noted…
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna urged Western countries to lift all restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western weapons in the war with Russia, ERR reports. “Ukraine cannot fight with its hands tied behind its back and yet win this war,” he stated. Also, he called for caution over various “peace initiatives” to end the war,…
Lithuanian courier company DHL Lietuva has confirmed that packages that caused a fire at warehouses in Germany were sent from Lithuania, LRT reports. Mindaugas Pivoriunas, managing director of DHL Lietuva, revealed that there had been two such incidents. He said that the company had updated its security protocols and procedures. The two parcels sent from…