Current Pulse
Latvia
Ventspils port terminals report 25.9% drop in cargo turnover in first...
In January-April this year, 2.985 million tons of cargo were handled at the terminals of the Port of Ventspils, which is 25.9 percent less...
Latvia
Companies may have to take difficult decisions to cut costs
Companies may have to make unpleasant decisions on cost-cutting, because although inflation is no longer rising significantly, the level of costs has not fallen...
Estonia
Cultural Endowment Fund board green-lights ERR’s new TV house
The state Cultural Endowment Fund's (Kultuurikapital) supervisory board has approved the construction of a new television house to be used by public broadcaster ERR,...
Estonia
Survey: Happiest people in Baltics live in Estonia
The results of the Estonian Social Survey show that residents of Estonia are happier than residents of Latvian and Lithuania, but not nearly as...
Estonia
Russia puts Estonia’s former formin, police chief on wanted list
According to the Russian news agency TASS, Russia has put Estonia's former police chief Elmar Vaher and former foreign minister Urmas Reinsalu on its...
Lithuania
Vilnius plans to buy study for metro or other new public...
Vilnius' municipal public transport company Susisiekimo Paslaugos is planning to purchase an international feasibility study on setting up an underground railway system or other...
Lithuania
4 Percent initiative reps to hand over 50,000 signatures to Lithuanian...
Representatives of the 4 Percent initiative will on Wednesday hand over to Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte a petition with 50,000 signatures, which calls on...
Latvia
Court fees to increase 43% on average
Court fees will increase by 43 percent on the average, according to amendments to the Cabinet regulation on services provided by courts, the amount...
Estonia
Fixed home loan interest rates could become cheaper than floating rates
Although last week alone, the security filters of Telia Estonia blocked nearly a million cyberattacks from assets located mainly in the United States, Poland...
Estonia
Telia survey: Growing numbers of Estonian businesses consider cyber attack unlikely
Although last week alone, the security filters of Telia Estonia blocked nearly a million cyberattacks from assets located mainly in the United States, Poland...
Lithuania
Ryanair opens its 2nd EUR 20 mln MRO hangar at Kaunas...
Ireland's budget airline Ryanair on Tuesday inaugurated its second aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) hangar at Lithuania's Kaunas Airport, with the investment totaling...
Latvia
56% of smokers in Latvia do not care where their cigarette...
More than half, or 56 percent, of smokers in Latvia do not care where their cigarette butts end up, representatives of Latvijas Zalais Punkts...
Latvia
PM orders disciplinary inquiry against head of State Chancellery ex-PM Karins’...
Prime Minister Evika Silina (New Unity) has ordered a disciplinary inquiry against State Chancellery Director Janis Citskovskis, according to a statement published in the...
Opinions
Europark Estonia CEO: Free parking may disappear from downtown Tallinn
Due to high land prices, free parking in the city center is becoming a rarity, and from the landowner's perspective, free or very cheap...
Estonia
One of season’s largest cruise ships set to call in Tallinn...
Tallinn's Old City Harbor is expecting visits from three cruise ships this week, including the 330-meter Britannia, which is one of the largest vessels...
Lithuania
Lithuania’s 2nd dual citizenship referendum falls through
Lithuania's second referendum on the expansion of dual citizenship failed on Sunday, just like the first attempt to amend the Constitution five years ago.
The...
Lithuania
History repeats itself as Nauseda, Simonyte get into presidential election runoff
Lithuania will have a new election with the same rivals as Gitanas Nauseda and Ingrida Simonyte get into the presidential election runoff, just as...
Estonia
Estonian govt approves bill seeking to increase land tax
The Estonian government has approved and sent to the parliament a bill seeking to amend the Land Tax Act and increase local governments' decision-making...
Opinions
Estonian law firm: Sugary drinks tax bill runs counter to EU...
An analysis by lawyers at the law firm Sorainen shows that the so-called sugary drinks tax bill runs counter to European Union law.
Consequently, Sorainen...
Opinions
Estonia’s Eesti Energia: Exchange price of electricity to decrease this summer
Increased solar energy production in the Baltics and reduced consumption during the summer will lower electricity exchange prices, although during hours when there is...
Lithuania
Lithuania blocks Kaliningrad-bound train wagon with letter Z from entering
A train wagon with the letter Z painted on it had to be uncoupled from a Kaliningrad-bound train at the Kena railway border checkpoint...
Latvia
Deep Tech Atelier 2024 will take place on May 16th and...
According to the latest "Latvian Productivity Report" data, in 2022, Latvia's productivity level at actual prices was only 59.5% of the EU average, one...
Estonia
Cigarette smoking has declined in 4 years
Over the past four years, the number of smokers of regular cigarettes in Estonia has decreased by 12 percent and the number of e-cigarette...
Interviews
BNS asks Lithuanian presidential candidates about foreign policy
Continuing a series of articles in which presidential hopefuls respond to questions posed by BNS, in the second part, we present the candidates' responses...
Latvia
airBaltic prices a EUR 340 million bond issue
Latvian national airline airBaltic has issued bonds worth EUR 340 million, Transport Minister Kaspars Briskens (Progressives) announced in a tweet last night.
airBaltic said in...
Latvia
Over 60% of Latvians would choose to invest in real estate...
If they had spare money, 63 percent of people in Latvia would choose to invest it in real estate - a home, land property...
Interviews
Kati Kusmin: we must develop our products and export them worldwide
Ain Alvela, Editor of TööstusEST, interview with Kati Kusmin, Chairman of the Management Board of The Estonian Business and Innovation Agency (EIS).
Kati Kusmin, which was...
Estonia
Wolt, Bolt delivery fees to couriers vary by order
Delivery fees vary by order, say both the major companies engaged in food courier app services in Estonia, and depend on various factors including...
Lithuania
Early voting in Lithuania’s presidential election, citizenship referendum kicks off
Early voting for Sunday's presidential election and referendum on dual citizenship got underway in Lithuania on Tuesday.
Eight politicians are vying for the presidency, including...
Estonia
Startup Estonia launches free expert counseling for startups in counties
Startup Estonia, in cooperation with county development centers, is launching a free expert counseling program across Estonia for startup entrepreneurs and people who are...
Latvia
German Chancellor confirms strong support for strengthening Baltic security
The security of NATO allies is also our security and "an attack on the Baltics would be an attack on all of us", which...
European Union
The European Parliament strengthens its cooperation with the Belarusian Democratic Forces
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola and the Head of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya sign a Letter of Intent, in Valletta.
During...
Lithuania
Total number of Lithuania’s eligible voters down 4 pct to over...
A total of 2,385,234 voters are eligible to vote in Lithuania's May 12 presidential election and citizenship referendum, a four percent decrease from five...
Estonia
Scammers once again defraud people out of thousands of euros in...
The East Prefecture of the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board are investigating cases that once again saw people scammed out of thousands of...
Latvia
Lufthansa Cargo to operate regular cargo flights to Riga Airport
German air cargo carrier Lufthansa Cargo has started regular cargo flights to Riga Airport, making it the first Baltic airport with which Lufthansa Cargo...
Latvia
Plane which landed on Tallinn Highway on Saturday was on a...
An instructor who was on a private flight with a passenger piloted the plane that made an emergency landing on the Tallinn Highway near...
Estonia
Ecolines’ St. Petersburg-Tallinn bus to run via Luhamaa
The bus operator Ecolines will direct the St. Petersburg-Tallinn bus, which the company has so far been operating through the northeastern Estonian border town...
Lithuania
Thirty-five journalists imprisoned in Belarus “freed” symbolically in Vilnius
Journalists from different countries symbolically “freed” from prison 35 colleagues, currently imprisoned in Belarus, during a solidarity event in Vilnius on Friday.
The #freedomforjournalists event...
Lithuania
Dual citizenship campaigners in Lithuania face obstacles
Public figures campaigning for dual citizenship in Lithuania say they have faced obstacles.
"Today, we were supposed to launch the campaign, and media outlets were...
Estonia
Estonia climbs to 6th place in 2024 World Press Freedom Index
Estonia rose by two places to sixth place after Finland in the 2024 edition of the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index.
Norway...
Lithuania
Lithuanian govt in favor of obliging banks to also provide fixed-rate...
The Lithuanian government on Friday agreed to oblige financial institutions to provide consumers with a real opportunity to choose the type of credit interest...
Estonia
New plan would see registration tax also hit second-hand cars bought...
The government needs to change its car tax plan to make sure it meets European Union rules. The latest plan would see the registration...
Latvia
Riga Set to Host the Premier Deep Tech Industry Conference –...
On May 16th and 17th, 2024, Riga will host the most prominent Deep Tech industry gathering in the Baltics, "Deep Tech Atelier 2024." Now...
Estonia
Benelux, Baltic countries to recognize each other’s higher education degrees
On Wednesday, an agreement on the automatic recognition of higher education degrees between the Benelux and the Baltic states came into effect.
The Dutch parliament...
Estonia
Switzerland provides EUR 7 mln for conservation innovation in Estonia
An initiative titled "Biodiversity Program," sponsored by Switzerland and launched on Wednesday, will provide funding for four years of work to improve wildlife monitoring...
Lithuania
Minimum wage in Lithuania may cross pretax threshold of EUR 1,000...
Social Security and Labor Minister Monika Navickiene forecasts that the minimum monthly wage in Lithuania may cross the 1,000-euro pre-tax threshold next year.
“The considerations...
World
Tele2 Once Again Among the Top as the Financial Times Names...
Tele2 AB ("Tele2") (Nasdaq Stockholm: TEL2 A and TEL2 B) is ranked number two among 500 European companies on the list Europe’s Climate Leaders...
Latvia
Latvia has no plans to stimulate the return of draft-age men...
Latvia has not received any requests from Ukraine and our country currently has no concrete plans to stimulate the return of men of conscription...
Estonia
Estonian formin: Foreign agents law jeopardizing Georgia’s path to EU
At an informal meeting of the General Affairs Council in Brussels, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said that Georgia's foreign agents law endangers the...
Estonia
Lux Express to launch night-time bus service between Tartu, Riga
Estonian bus operator Lux Express is launching a night-time bus service between Tartu and Riga from May 1.
Every day, a bus departs from Tartu...