The Finnish government’s decision announced at the beginning of August to increase the number of Finnish soldiers in Afghanistan from 145 to 195 has triggered a debate in the national media. The daily Aamulehti defends the plan: “Most likely people in all countries which are sending soldiers to Afghanistan are questioning what their boys and [...]
Finland’s Ministry of Justice is considering lowering the voting age from 18 to 16. The daily Turun Sanomat is sceptical: “The real problem with our representative democray isn’t the number of eligible voters but the low voting turnout. If only half of those eligible actually bother to vote from election to election, something is fundamentally [...]
The national conservative Polish presidential candidate Jarosław Kaczyński has said that Poland should free up additional funds for victims of the recent floods. One step at a time, writes the liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza: “Thanks to higher economic growth tax revenues could rise. In addition, the budget will be bolstered by a further four billion [...]
This year’s Baltic Development Forum summit was held in Lithuania on June 1-2. The daily Respublika criticises the absence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel: “If the forum had been held in Berlin we would have all hurried to be present: When Europe’s whistle blows no one stays at home and nothing can stop us, not [...]
VILNIUS — The Lithuanian parliament has adopted a resolution supporting Georgia’s territorial integrity and calling for the establishment of autonomy in the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the parliament’s press service has said. A total of 55 members of the 141-seat Seimas supported the resolution, which was initiated by 76 MPs. Nine lawmakers [...]
The leader of Russia’s Liberal Democrats, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, has expressed hope that Latvia will review its policies concerning ‘non-citizens’ after forthcoming parliamentary elections. Speaking during a news conference, which followed a meeting of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Latvia’s capital, Riga, Zhirinovsky expressed confidence that “in the autumn, after the elections, some democratic party would [...]
Poland has a new law in the offing aimed at preventing the abuses of lobby work. Among other things the trade union representatives would not be allowed to take part in parliamentary committees in future. The conservative daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna says the law goes too far: “Lobby work is a form of representation and [...]
The flooding of the Oder and Vistua rivers in Poland has already inundated almost 20 municipalities and claimed 16 lives. Following the death of Polish President Lech Kaczyński this new emergency situation is altering Poland’s political landscape ahead of the presidential elections in June, writes the conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: “The contestants with the [...]
In response to an invitation from President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev, the President of Latvia Valdis Zatlers was in Moscow on May 9, to attend Russia’s 65th anniversary commemoration of the end of World War II. The purpose of the event was to honour those who perished during what Russia calls the Great Patriotic War, [...]
Vladimir Putin may travel to Vilnius for a sporting event in June, after being invited to visit the country since 2006. The news portal Delfi explains why Putin has given his Baltic neighbour a wide berth for years: “Of course Moscow is still furious at Vilnius’ demand for over 80 billion litas [around 23 billion [...]
