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Via Baltica@viabaltica.bsky.social |
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Today's Top News from the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — Read Less, Know More @ viabaltica.fi
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Via Baltica
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The #Baltic States condemned Hungarian PM Orban's visit to #Russia. Estonian PM Kallas and Lithuanian President Nauseda said that Orban was "exploiting" and "undermining" the EU presidency, while Latvian President Rinkevics ridiculed Orban by tweeting a verse of the song, "From Russia with Love."
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The Armed Forces of #Lithuania will send communications specialists for a four-month #NATO mission in #Iraq. The specialists will provide #communications support to ensure uninterrupted command and control in the area of operations.
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#Estonia and #Latvia will receive TRML-4D #radars from German #defence electronics manufacturer Hensoldt under the European Sky Shield Initiative. The company will integrate the radars into the IRIS-T SLM air defence systems procured from Diehl Defence of #Germany.
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Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis of #Lithuania would make an excellent European commissioner, Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte stated. President Gitanas Nauseda has told Simonyte that he has a certain candidate in mind.
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House #prices in the #Baltic States rose the most in Lithuania in Q1/2024, according to #Eurostat #data. Compared to Q1/2023, #house prices increased by 9.9% in #Lithuania, 7.8% in #Estonia, and 3.7% in #Latvia.
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Language #technology company Tilde of #Latvia has received EU funding to develop a large language model (LLM) for smaller European #languages. The new model will be #opensource, freely available to both researchers and developers of commercial solutions.
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#Estonia needs to discuss the introduction of tuition fees in higher #education, Toomas Asser, rector of the #University of #Tartu, stated. He said that maintaining the quality of education with funds from the state #budget only was becoming unsustainable.
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#Google has removed the official #YouTube accounts of several sanctioned #Russian performers, following a request from the Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission. The artists have been placed under EU #sanctions for actively supporting #Russia's #war against #Ukraine.
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The Ministry of Defence of #Lithuania is negotiating with US #defence corporation Northrop Grumman on opening an #ammunition factory in Lithuania, Defence Minister Laurynas Kasciunas announced. The factory would produce 30mm ammunition for infantry fighting vehicles.
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#Latvians are very enthusiastic to take part in national #defence, the commander of the Latvian National Armed Forces, Lt Gen Leonids Kalnins, stated. Also, interest to enter service in the Latvian National Guard is now higher than it was in 2023, he said.
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The Ministry of #Justice in #Estonia plans to submit a draft bill to expedite the handling of criminal #court cases. The proposed #amendments aim to reduce delays in criminal proceedings. Average processing times have doubled over the past five years.
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The #government of #Lithuania is developing a mobile application that would allow the public to make #donations for national #defence, aiming for a summer rollout. Finance Minister Gintare Skaiste said that the #app would enable both periodic and one-off payments.
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The #Defence Ministry of #Latvia will send more than 2,500 combat #drones of various types and capabilities to #Ukraine. The delivery is part of the international drone coalition to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
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Incoming PM Kristen Michal of #Estonia said that the Estonian Reform Party would not propose reducing or repealing the tax-free #income threshold in talks on a new coalition #government. However, the #tax exemption will be fixed at EUR 700 per month for everyone as of 2025.
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A recent #study reveals a significant increase in the occurrence of heat waves in the #Baltic States over the past 30 years. The number and frequency of days with extreme #heat has more than doubled, with trends being more significant in #Estonia compared to #Latvia and #Lithuania.
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President Gitanas Nauseda of #Lithuania said that #Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's meeting with President Vladimir #Putin of #Russia undermines confidence in Hungary's EU presidency. Nauseda said that Orban's decision to visit Moscow does not represent the EU position.
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The city council of the capital of #Latvia, #Riga, may revise its property #tax policy to address the issue of abandoned and empty shopfronts in the Old Town. The municipality plans to engage with individual #property owners to bring entrepreneurs back to the area.
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#Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal, visited #Estonia, where he met with outgoing Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna. Saudi Arabia is one of the focus areas of Estonia's #business #diplomacy.
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National #security, #defence, and #education will remain the main priorities of the state budget in 2025, Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte of #Lithuania stated. She said that the #government would spend a large part of budget revenues on #pensions, teacher #salaries, and servicing the public #debt.
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The state-owned postal #services provider in #Latvia, Latvijas Pasts, has reversed its decision to close down more than half of its #post offices. The company will only close down 12 post offices and plans to relocate many post offices to supermarkets instead.
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Prime Minister Kaja Kallas of #Estonia has pledged not to comment on domestic #politics if she is appointed as the EU's #foreignpolicy chief. She will be stepping down after over three years in office.
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Defence spending as a percentage of #GDP in the #Baltic States is among the highest in #NATO, according to the International Centre for Defence and Security. The report shows that #defence expenditure in #Estonia is third-highest in NATO, followed by #Latvia.
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#Transport Minister Marius Skuodis of #Lithuania says EUR 1.3bn is needed to fix the country's road #infrastructure. The current budget for road #maintenance is EUR 872mn, which falls short of what is necessary, Skuodis says.
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President Edgars Rinkevics of #Latvia has successfully distanced himself from his former party, New Unity, and established his own independent identity, political scientist Lelde Metla-Rozentale says. The #president is highly regarded across various voter groups, she says.
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The Estonian Reform Party has proposed reducing the tax-free #income threshold to boost #budget revenue, PM Kaja Kallas revealed. However, coalition partners #Estonia 200 and the Social Democratic Party oppose the idea.
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MEP-elect Virginijus Sinkevicius of #Lithuania has been elected as one of the six vice chairpersons of the Greens/European Free Alliance group in the European #Parliament. Sinkevicius served as Lithuania's European Commissioner in the outgoing Commission.
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The Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) of #Latvia has ordered the #opposition National Alliance to pay back EUR 210,673 of state support that the party had spent illegally. KNAB halted the payment of state support to the party for one year.
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Over 60% of the population of #Estonia is prepared to defend the country, according to a #poll conducted in March-April 2024 for the Ministry of #Defence. The #survey shows that 81% support armed resistance in case of an attack.
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The #Defence Ministry of #Lithuania will procure various types of unmanned aerial vehicles for EUR 36mn. The ministry plans to allocate altogether around EUR 200mn for the purchase of #drones by 2030.
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Luxury #cars are being exported from #Latvia to #Russia via #Belarus, circumventing EU #sanctions. Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze calls for aligning sanctions against Russia and Belarus to solve the problem.
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Estonia's transmission system operator, Elering, plans to replace the damaged #EstLink2 undersea power cable by the end of August 2024. The power cable, which links #Estonia and #Finland, failed unexpectedly in January 2024.
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MEP Waldemar Tomaszewski of #Lithuania has taken legal action at the European Court of Human Rights against Lithuanian authorities for stopping an investigation into derogatory comments by a local TV host who had called Tomaszewski a "Colorado potato beetle."
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Latvia's State Border Guard prevented altogether 2,770 #migrants from illegally crossing the #border from #Belarus in H1/2024. Only 12 people were allowed to enter #Latvia on humanitarian grounds.
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Prime Minister Evika Silina of #Latvia has met with a visiting delegation from the Appropriations Committee of the US House of Representatives. The delegation was led by Congressman Tom Cole of #Oklahoma.
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The ruling coalition parties in #Estonia have agreed to introduce a new #tax to raise funds for national #defence. Incoming PM Kristen Michal said that the tax would likely combine increases in VAT, income tax, and excise duties.
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The #Latvian #language expert commission of the State Language Centre of #Latvia has rejected a proposal to allow the lowercase spelling of #Russia. The Latvian National Armed Forces will continue to spell "russia" in lowercase, however.
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MEP Jaak Madison of #Estonia has left the Identity and Democracy (ID) group and joined the European Conservatives and Reformists in the European Parliament. He said that France's Marine Le Pen and Hungary's Viktor Orban had "decided to sink" ID.
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#Lithuania will acquire Polish-made #Piorun air defence systems, Defence Minister Laurynas Kasciunas announced. Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz proposed that Lithuania procure the new systems jointly with #Poland.
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Medical experts in #Latvia have warned that drug use among #adolescents is rising. The number of young drug users admitted to hospital is also rising, and some of them overdose repeatedly.
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#Shipping group Tallink Grupp of #Estonia carried 1,451,768 #passengers in Q2/2024, which was down 5.8% from 1,541,081 in Q2/2023. The number of passenger #vehicles transported was down 11.4% over a year.
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The government of #Lithuania has approved a draft resolution to withdraw from the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The proposal is based on the argument that cluster munitions are highly effective for #defence.
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#Latvia will triple the number of average speed cameras on #roads, #Transport Minister Kaspars Briskens announced. He said that the situation on Latvian roads was critical.
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Estonia's outgoing PM Kaja Kallas has chosen Vivian Loonela, head of the European Commission's representation in #Estonia, as her future chief of staff at the Commission. The European Parliament will vote on Kallas’s nomination as the EU's foreign policy chief on 18 July 2024.
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Representatives of the largest #banks in #Lithuania met with PM Ingrida Simonyte to express dissatisfaction with the extension of the windfall tax on bank profits. The #government extended the windfall tax until 2025 and raised the corporate tax rate to 21% to fund #defence spending.
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Forestry costs in #Latvia increased significantly in 2023 compared to previous years, according to #data from the Central Statistical Bureau. The #forestry sector contributes over 1.5% to Latvia's GDP and employs over 17,000 people.
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The economy and finance ministries in #Estonia have drafted #legislation mandating #gender balance on the boards of listed companies, in line with an EU directive. Currently, the share of #women on Estonian company boards is one of the lowest in the EU.
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A private meeting between Gabrielius Landsbergis, chairman of the conservative Homeland Union in #Lithuania, and MP Eugenijus Gentvilas of the Lithuanian Liberal Movement has highlighted tensions within the country's #coalition #government, LRT reports.
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Around 5,000 #NATO troops from various member states will be stationed in #Latvia in the coming years, #Defence Minister Andris Spruds announced. The troops will be part of a multinational brigade set to be battle-ready by 2026.
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#Estonia continues to collect #telecom data on residents despite it being against EU law and the #constitution. The European Court of Justice and Estonia's Supreme Court have concluded that the #data collection is illegal.
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Underage marriages still occur in #Lithuania primarily due to teenage pregnancies, despite a decline in recent years. #Legislation allows courts to lower the legal #marriage age of 18 in cases such as #pregnancy.
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