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Based on a review of the correspondence between Swedish diplomats in the Baltic States and the Swedish Foreign Ministry for the years 1938–1940, the purpose of this article is, firstly, to elaborate a framework for the analysis of intelligence reporting in times of crisis, secondly, to investigate how the Swedish diplomats in the Baltic States went about to report intelligence, and thirdly, to try to reconstruct how the Swedes coped with the volatile conditions characteristic of these years. The article concludes that the period can be divided into four phases, each marked by their respective conditions for intelligence reporting, and that despite shifts to the Swedes' access to different types of sources, they were still able to compensate for the loss of certain sources – most notably, among the Baltic political and governmental elites – and keep Stockholm updated with developments. Their effort in this regard arguably adds a new dimension to prevailing understandings of Sweden's interwar Baltic policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2020, the Baltic states have distanced themselves from mainland China. However, one country—Lithuania—has also developed close ties with Taiwan, including the opening of the Taiwanese Representative Office, the first in the European Union (EU). In response, China has downgraded diplomatic relations with Lithuania and imposed unofficial but sweeping economic sanctions. Why would a small Baltic country challenge a great power in Asia, where it has no obvious interests? Drawing on theories of international relations and based on original research, I argue that there are three reasons for Lithuania's seemingly irrational behavior. First, the Baltic states depend on the United States for protection against Russia. However, Lithuania lacks a useful niche, such as cybersecurity for Estonia and logistics for Lat-via. As a substitute, it has sided with the United States in the conflict with China. Second, the Baltic region has benefited little from economic cooperation with China. Therefore, Lithuania leaped at Taiwan's promise of US$1.2 billion in investments and credits for high-tech industries. Third, Lithuania is the only Baltic country with a long history of independent statehood. As a result, it supports other peoples who seek to decide their own fate and—not always consistently—believes it should spread its values "from Belarus to Taiwan." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores state and university language policy (LP) agents in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to illuminate their relationship and standpoints in higher education language management. Being interested in who stands for what and whose positions are legitimised, we study the higher education LPs of each state, language principles of universities, and public debates. We conceptualise active LP agents as people with power, people with expertise, people with influence, and people with interest, and consider them to exercise agency in five stages: policy initiation, involvement, influence, intervention, and implementation. By means of argumentation analysis we examine the nature of agents together with the standpoints they express. The findings reveal the central role of most of the nationally oriented state policymakers in university language management in all three settings. Other state policymakers, university administrators, staff, and students become active agents when they disagree with the policies. Agents in each setting share the overarching policy goal, but the main difference of opinion that arises among them is about agency: Should the state or universities implement higher education LPs? And is the state capable of achieving the common policy goal when it takes the task upon itself?

Research background: The fact that all resources are not infinite and the needs of society are steadily increasing, new ways of producing, consuming and waste disposal should be adopted. A circular economy as a modern alternative to a linear economy became one of the priorities of the European Union in order to create a modern, resource-efficient and competitive system.

The article examines the issue of the formation and development of the politics of memory in the post-Soviet space in the 1990s — 2010s. Historical discourse is analyzed and compared in the Baltic countries, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. According to the results of the study, it can be stated that in a number of post-Soviet states that have chosen a pro-Western course and, at the same time, confrontation with the Russian Federation (the Baltic countries, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia), there is a number of similar theses of state historical policy that can be presented in the form of such components as ethnocentrism, an appeal to succession in relation to early state formations (bypassing the USSR), the introduction of the concept of «Soviet occupation» into circulation, a cardinal revision of the events of the «Great Patriotic War» up to this term in favor of the concept of «World War II» and the institutionalization of the memory policy in the form of the creation of specialized, politically engaged institutions (as Institutes of national memory) for the accumulation, formulation and popularization of the main theses of the memory policy. At the same time, in our opinion, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, the Belarusian opposition in the mid-2000s borrowed many Baltic theses of the memory policy, which appeared in the Baltic countries much earlier than from their southern neighbors and were implemented more consistently. since the early 1990s. We can assume that along with the Eastern European trend of memory politics, there is also a narrower version of it aimed at the republics of the former Soviet Union – the Baltic, which is characterized by the components indicated above.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, administrative courts were established one after another in European countries. In this article, scholars review the origins of administrative justice in three Baltic states – Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia – when all three states declared their independence. In the article, the authors reveal the legal regulation of administrative justice, the procedural provisions of judicial review, the system of institutions that supervised the legality of administrative acts, and their jurisdiction during the period from 1918 to 1940 in the Baltic states.

The aim of this article is to evaluate the effectiveness of the European Union’s ‘Europe for Citizens’ program by analyzing the situation of the Baltic states in the context of the overall EU level, as well as comparing Latvia with neighboring Estonia and Lithuania. Within the frameworks of the two actions (‘European Remembrance Projects’ and ‘Civil Society Projects’) in the ‘Europe for Citizens’ program for the two periods (2007-2013) and (2014-2020), both the financial support of the European Union to the most active groups of civil society (top-down) and a very high activity of civil society by project application have been examined. Under approved projects, various activities were developed, promoting public participation both at the local level and among the citizens of various European Union countries, thus starting to influence the processes at the EU level (bottom-up) as well. The data show that the population of all three Baltic states has a high sense of belonging to the European Union, well above the EU average.

In this study, we examine the mismatch between the anthropometric and the economic measures of human wellbeing, a fact that has gone unnoticed in the international research on anthropometric history: by 1914, Estonian males were among the tallest in the world despite the country's economic underdevelopment. We explain the anthropometric overperformance of Estonia considering the early start of the first demographic transition in relation to the special features of the agrarian reforms in the Baltic provinces. Estonian boys did grow taller than their peers in Lithuania, Finland, and even in the much richer Western countries, because their parents had smaller families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to statistics, the number of young people aged 15 to 29 in the Baltic States has decreased considerably in the past decade. As this age group is around one sixth of the population in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, this trend is significant, and represents a risk from a demographic, nationality, security, and financial point of view. The population of the Baltic States is currently subject to a higher risk of multidimensional poverty than the populations of other EU countries (Voronov et al., 2020). Moving out of these countries is not forbidden, but in an ideal world young people would return, which is not always the case. As migration processes can be influenced proactively, in this article the authors analyze the situation and consider what could be done to maintain wellbeing, to keep the younger generation in their home countries, and/or to attract them to return. Empirical data comes from secondary data analysis: the authors conducted a content analysis of two published reports. The aim is to focus on wellbeing and social-pedagogical prevention to find answers to two questions: what influences emigration readiness, and can certain activities prevent emigration? As a conclusion of our analysis, the following is stressed: sometimes leaving is a tool for hope/attaining something better – for higher quality of wellbeing, for example; however, some people just want to get away – they leave for the sake of leaving. Both cases may be problematic – a social pedagogical preventive consultation could avoid larger crises. The proactive approach may help to keep younger generations in the home country and/or support their readiness to come back after study abroad.

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This article deals with Baltic security in light of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. NATO members since 2004, the Baltic states have built their recent security strategies on the “tripwire” doctrine. Now, taking into account the Russian full-scale invasion of a neighboring country, this strategy has to be profoundly reconsidered. First, this article identifies the main challenges of Baltic defense – the lack of “strategic depth”, the proximity of potential aggressor countries, limited resources available for military investment etc. Second, it deals with the radical change in strategic outlook since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and also with the Baltic response to it. The Baltic countries have increased their defense expenditure in recent years, and have boosted the size of their military personnel (e.g., Latvia reintroduced conscription in 2022). However, there is a need to further strengthen defense capacities by means of increased cooperation with the NATO allies. An increased presence of NATO troops in the Baltic countries is of utmost importance here, as well as the local infrastructure capable of hosting allied military units on Baltic soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate the effects of various fiscal policy measures for small and open economies by analysing the implications of fiscal shocks in the Baltic countries based on data for the period from 1995 to 2018. For this purpose, we have chosen structural VAR estimation methods following Blanchard, O., & Perotti, R. (2002). An Empirical Characterization of the Dynamic Effects of Changes in Government Spending and Taxes on Output. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 117(4), 1329–1368, approach and relied on local projections for robustness checks. We find that the impact on growth of direct taxes, government consumption and public investment is strong and persistent in the analysed cases. Although the responses of FDI to fiscal shocks are less consistent as compared to output, in most cases, we get strong and persistent negative reactions in FDI to increasing tax burden.

Recent studies showed that language knowledge has, increasingly, become a value-add attribute that helps businesses to implement and satisfy their corporate goals in the globalized world as its services are highly demanded by employers in parallel to so-called hard skills in job advertisements. The paper presents a quantitative content-based analysis of foreign language knowledge requirements listed in job advertisements. The study results are based on data assessment from online job websites. The scope of the study was five industries-information technology, finance and accounting, organization and management, technical engineering, and customer service in three Baltic States - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The dataset consists of one thousand four hundred forty-two (N=1442) job advertisements written in English, published on the job portal, and examined from September 2021 to September 2022. The study results revealed that foreign language communication has become an obligatory attribute of the examined industries in the Baltic States and an indispensable characteristic of any working position. Labour market in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia seeks a candidate with highly fluent foreign language skills, advanced expression of thoughts and communication, able efficiently to present thoughts, ideas or comments and communicate correctly.

The aim of this article is to evaluate the effectiveness of the European Union's 'Europe for Citizens' program by analyzing the situation of the Baltic states in the context of the overall EU level, as well as comparing Latvia with neighboring Estonia and Lithuania. Within the frameworks of the two actions ('European Remembrance Projects' and 'Civil Society Projects') in the 'Europe for Citizens' program for the two periods (2007-2013) and (2014-2020), both the financial support of the European Union to the most active groups of civil society (top-down) and a very high activity of civil society by project application have been examined. Under approved projects, various activities were developed, promoting public participation both at the local level and among the citizens of various European Union countries, thus starting to influence the processes at the EU level (bottom-up) as well. The data show that the population of all three Baltic states has a high sense of belonging to the European Union, well above the EU average. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the paper is to forecast the development of cultural enterprises in the Baltic states and Ukraine. The article identifies the practical aspect. The enterprises of the cultural sector of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Ukraine are analyzed. The development of cultural enterprises of these countries is presented graphically. The forecast is made. The trend line shows the geometric representation of the average values of the analyzed indicators obtained using any mathematical function. The displayed value of the approximation’s reliability shows the compliance’s degree of the trend model with the original data, as a forecast of cultural enterprises. Methodology. The following research methods were used: the method of generalization of theoretical knowledge was used to form the authors’ approach to the definition of terms; tabular method, analysis, which was used to estimate the number and average size of enterprises in the field of culture in the Baltic states and Ukraine; the graphic method was used for the number of cultural enterprises in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Ukraine; the exponential method was used when constructing a trend line; the approximation method was used for the prediction equation; extrapolation method was used to calculate the projected number and the average size of enterprises in the cultural sectors in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Ukraine. Results. The forecast is based on the number of cultural enterprises per capita in the Baltic states and Ukraine. Conclusions are made and proposals for improving the activities of the cultural sector in the leading countries of the world are presented. The study is based on a review of the literature, scientific articles on the development of cultural enterprises in the Baltic states and Ukraine. Practical implications. Forecasting the development of cultural enterprises will make it possible to predict activities and avoid miscalculations in the area of the Baltic states and Ukraine. Value/originality. The results of this study provide an opportunity to further make a rating assessment for 2021 and a projected rating assessment of cultural enterprises in the Baltic states and Ukraine. This will provide an opportunity to learn about the level of development of Ukraine in comparison with leading European countries.

This paper aims to investigate the effects of various fiscal policy measures for small and open economies by analysing the implications of fiscal shocks in the Baltic countries based on data for the period from 1995 to 2018. For this purpose, we have chosen structural VAR estimation methods following Blanchard, O., & Perotti, R. (2002). An Empirical Characterization of the Dynamic Effects of Changes in Government Spending and Taxes on Output. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 117(4), 1329–1368, approach and relied on local projections for robustness checks. We find that the impact on growth of direct taxes, government consumption and public investment is strong and persistent in the analysed cases. Although the responses of FDI to fiscal shocks are less consistent as compared to output, in most cases, we get strong and persistent negative reactions in FDI to increasing tax burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews welfare policy arrangements developed in the Baltic and Nordic countries to address the problems of aging. The findings show that after almost thirty years of redesigning social policy and welfare systems in the Baltic countries, senior citizens remain in a precarious situation. As expected, the Nordic countries are yet superior in terms of benefits and services. The trend toward marketization and re-familialization of elderly care, and 'go towards the EU average' in public expenditures is, however, also identified in the Nordic countries. In the Baltic states, in contrast, the 'go towards the EU average' indicates an increase in public social expenditure directed toward aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: Protozoan parasites—Cryptosporidium and Giardia—are important causes of diarrhea with an underestimated short-term burden on childhood growth and wellbeing in children under five years of age. The main transmission routes for both parasites are food and drinking water; transmission from person to person; and, due to their zoonotic nature, from domestic or wild animals to humans. The aims of the present study were to summarize the officially reported human cases of cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis in Latvia and to assess the occurrence of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in children within a prospective prevalence study. Materials and Methods: The number of officially reported cases of cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis in the time period of 2000–2020 was collected from the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control of Latvia. Data from a clinical diagnostic laboratory were included in the study in the period from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2018. Additionally, a prospective study was performed, and fecal samples were collected from unique 0–17-year-old patients from January to February 2021 and tested using fluorescent microscopy. Results: Overall, during the 20-year period, 71 cases (mean per year = 9) of cryptosporidiosis and 1020 (mean per year = 34) cases of giardiasis were officially reported in Latvia. Meanwhile, within the prospective study, we found 35 (6.0%; 95%CI 4.3–8.1) Cryptosporidium and 42 (7.2%; 95%CI 5.3–9.6) Giardia cases. Conclusions: Here, we provide clear proof that both Cryptosporidium and Giardia are underdiagnosed in Latvia, which could also be true for neighboring Baltic and European countries, where a low number of cases are officially reported. Therefore, we highlight the hypothesis that the actual number of cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis human cases in the Baltic states is higher than that officially reported, including in Latvia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author analyzed the role of the elites of the Baltic countries in the choice of foreign policy priorities in the period after the declaration of independence. The process of determining the course towards the Euro-Atlantic is inscribed in the sub-regional context, taking into account the current Russian-Baltic political interaction. The study of power groups was carried out on the basis of an examination of large-scale socio-political transformations along with an analysis of individual practices. A comprehensive study of the transformation of the political elites of Baltic states as small countries, involves consideration of both the domestic and foreign policy aspects. The thesis is put forward that, despite a number of differences in the Baltic states, since the 1990s there were similar processes of transformation of political elites. The elite formation was due to the principle of state continuity as continuity with the pre-war regimes of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia and as a break with the Soviet period, including the EuroAtlantic course as the key priority of the foreign policy. The consolidation of deep divisions in the societies of the Baltic states - ethnic, linguistic, political - was the result of the elite struggle for power in the 1990s. After the implementation of the idea of Back to the West the elites of the Baltic states replaced it with a Russian threat, which made it possible to postpone overcoming internal divisions fraught with weakening of their power.

The article gives an analysis of Russia’s foreign policy in relation to the Baltic States from 1990 to 2019. The author identifies four main stages of its evolution. It is concluded that the main problems of the Russian-Baltic dialogue are discrimination of the Russian-speaking minority, issues of historical memory, a decrease of the Russian transit and security. The relations between Russia and the Baltic states has become conflict almost after dissolution of the USSR. However, in 1990-2000-ies, Russia still tried to formulate a positive agenda for the relations with the Baltics. The main motive of its strategy was to build trust and political relations on the basis of economic cooperation and civil society. Since 1990-s Russia has been developing cross-border cooperation programs. Since late 2000-s Russia has been also developing cross-border programs with the EU. However, Russia’s hopes were not justified. Its relations with Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania have worsened since 2014 after the Ukrainian conflict. Prospects for their improvement are still unclear. The author comes to the conclusion that Russia is “tired” from the Baltic States. Despite the fact that Russia has been systematically transforming its foreign policy after the dissolution of the USSR, it has not fully achieved its goals. There is still discrimination of the Russian minority. Russia and the Baltics have not come to a single interpretation of the Second World War history. Political contradictions prevail over economic ties. Despite the growing estrangement between Russia and the Baltic States, Russia keeps developing them concentrating on trans-border and civil society cooperation. Such relations are non-political and they are focused on solving specific problems.

This study investigates asymmetry in the impact of domestic inflation drivers in the Baltic States, focusing on the output gap and unemployment gap. We aim to reveal how positive and negative changes in these economic activity indicators affect the inflation rate by employing a nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag approach (NARDL) and the Phillips curve. Empirical results demonstrate the long-run asymmetry as inflation in Estonia and Lithuania responds more significantly to positive changes in the output gap, whereas negative changes in the unemployment gap exhibit a stronger long-run impact on inflation in all three countries. These findings mainly suggest some extent of downward price rigidity in the Baltic economies, indicating a nonlinear Phillips curve and relatively large costs of disinflation policy directed to aggregate demand reduction. Further analysis reveals that increasing downward nominal wage flexibility could reduce these asymmetries in Estonia and, to a lesser extent, in Latvia and Lithuania.

The current state of activity of the Armed Forces of the Baltic States such as Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia has been studied. The experience of the Armed Forces of these countries in ensuring collective defense, security and peace in accordance with NATO standards has been analyzed. It is stated that the National Armed Forces of the Republic of Latvia is a group of troops intended to protect the fundamental freedoms, independence and territorial integrity of the state. It’s a part of the Ministry of Defence of Latvia. It is emphasized that the Armed Forces of the Republic of Lithuania are a state military organization whose purpose is to protect the territorial integrity and inviolability of the state. It is a structural unit of the Ministry of National Defence Republic of Lithuania. It is noted that the Armed Forces of Estonia (Defence Forces) is a military organized unit of the Executive authority, which is headed by the government of the Republic and the Ministry of Defence of Estonia. It is stated that the activities of the Armed Forces of the Baltic States are carried out on the principle of collective defence of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which task is to protect the member States from military threat. Based on the analyzed experience of the Baltic States’ Armed Forces, it has been concluded that the effective functioning and activities of the Armed Forces depends on a clear definition of the main priorities in the field of defenсe, chains of international community and valid logistical support. It is noted about the possible implementation of certain positive provisions regarding the transformation about the integrated leadership system of the defenсe forces and military management in the Armed Forces in accordance with NATO standards and the provision of advisory assistance.

Vertical redistribution refers to the transfer of income from those who have more than they need to those who are in need and is related to the levelling of income inequality and poverty. Vertical redistribution over the life course is indicative of the capacity of the welfare state to protect against social risks over the life course. Studies that explore such redistribution often rely on the life-course perspective and use secondary cross-sectional rather than primary data. The goal of the current study is to analyse the impact of social benefits on income inequality and poverty over the life course in the Baltic States. The paper focuses on the three Baltic countries commonly characterised by successful economic performance, low income redistribution and high income inequality. With this aim, analyses of micro-level data of EU-SILC of 2015 was conducted. To evaluate inequality changes across the life course, the study used a decomposition of the Gini index. Evaluation of poverty of different cohorts rested on the gap of the poverty rate between different groups and the average poverty rate in the country. The findings of our study suggest that the impact of social benefits on the reduction of income inequality is modest. Highest poverty rates are linked with the periods of childhood, working age when unemployed and old age. Overall, the context laden with high inequality and poverty cannot ensure adequate protection against social risks over the life course and create a “buffer” for the development of human capital.

The article studies the compliance of democracy of the Baltic States with the principle of tolerance. The study demonstrated specific social phobias (xenophobia, migrant phobia, homophobia, islamophobia, romaphobia, etc.), hate speech and other destructive trends in the Baltic countries that contradict values of liberal democracy. The authors argue that Baltic States face similar challenges of strengthening the principle of tolerance as well as how they differ in intolerance manifestations and mechanisms of their prevention and counteraction. In the Baltic States, issues related to promotion of tolerance are claimed to be common at two levels: at the institutional level (countries do not fulfil some of the EU guidelines aimed at enhancing the principle of tolerance); at the value level (population does not accept completely liberal-democratic values that the EU advocates).

Three Northern European countries over the last century have had similar political experiences, in 1990–1991 they have re-established independence and developed an individual political and administrative system. From 2004, when all Baltic countries became members of the European Union, the land use and spatial planning systems were developed with many similarities, as well as differences. The topic of this study is a survey of the national land policies and spatial planning systems in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in the context of sustainable development, needs of society and depopulation. The aim of the article is to examine the problems, needs of society and tendencies in land usage, as well as systemic features of spatial planning in the Baltic countries. It is very important to analyse how countries realize the implementation of sustainable development strategies in land use planning and in the context of depopulation. It was found that the Baltic countries are facing similar problems in land use and spatial planning documents but there are also differences regarding planning procedures of documents, their hierarchy and types of planned measures. The study has shown that people in these countries want more natural environment and eco-industrial development. Also, it was approved as necessary to create an index (engineering method) of sustainability in spatial planning.

The electricity sector in Europe and in the world is undergoing rapid and profound changes. There is a sharp increase in the capacity of renewable energy sources, coal and nuclear power plants are being closed and new technologies are being introduced. Especially rapid changes are taking place in the energy systems of the Baltic States. Under these conditions, there is an emerging need for new planning tools particularly for the analysis of the power system properties in a long-term perspective. The main contribution of this article lies in the formulation and solution of optimization problems that arise when planning the development of power systems in the Baltic States. To solve this problem, it is necessary to use models of various power plants and make a number of assumptions, the justification of which requires the following actions: to briefly review the current situation of the production and demand of energy in the Baltic power systems; to conduct an overview of the Baltic interconnections and their development; to make forecasts of energy prices, water inflow, energy production and demand; to set and solve the problems of optimization of power plant operation modes; to demonstrate the possibility and limitations of the developed tools on the basis of real-life and forecast data. In this paper, a case study is performed using the main components of the overall modelling framework being developed. It focuses on the Baltic power systems in 2050 under the conditions of significant expansion in the installed capacity of renewable energy sources (RESs) and diminished fossil fuel power plant activity. The resulting electricity generation mix and trade balance with neighbouring countries is assessed, showing that even with significant RES expansion, the Baltic countries remain net importers and because of the intermittency of RESs, there are hours within the year when the demand cannot be met. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of the climate change problem is recognised by the governments of the overwhelming majority of the world's countries. To bring additional attention and enable more concrete action, in a number of countries and municipalities the issue has been declared a climate emergency. The need to solve this problem predetermines the task of replacing fossil energy sources with renewable alternatives. The process of the ongoing transformation is called energy transition. It includes transformation of all the energy-intensive sectors of economic activity: power generation, supply and consumption, heat generation and supply, electrification of transport, agriculture and households. The main goal of the energy transition is obvious – it is necessary to reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The main sources of energy used to achieve this goal in power generation are wind and solar energy. Even though the goal is unambiguously defined and the way to achieve it seems evident, it is already clear that a number of serious problems and obstacles have arisen. They are caused by the emergence of additional objectives that must be achieved and constraints that need to be satisfied in the process of the required transformations. Indeed, the transition should be carried out taking into account power system properties describing techno-economic efficiency, reliability, stability, adequacy, etc. This list can be expanded easily. It should be noted that the additional objectives are not less important than the overarching goal. Along with reducing emissions, it is also necessary to improve energy supply reliability, its availability and affordability for all the segments of the population as well as maintain the security of the energy supply infrastructure and processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three Northern European countries over the last century have had similar political experiences, in 1990-1991 they have re-established independence and developed an individual political and administrative system. From 2004, when all Baltic countries became members of the European Union, the land use and spatial planning systems were developed with many similarities, as well as differences. The topic of this study is a survey of the national land policies and spatial planning systems in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in the context of sustainable development, needs of society and depopulation. The aim of the article is to examine the problems, needs of society and tendencies in land usage, as well as systemic features of spatial planning in the Baltic countries. It is very important to analyse how countries realize the implementation of sustainable development strategies in land use planning and in the context of depopulation. It was found that the Baltic countries are facing similar problems in land use and spatial planning documents but there are also differences regarding planning procedures of documents, their hierarchy and types of planned measures. The study has shown that people in these countries want more natural environment and eco-industrial development. Also, it was approved as necessary to create an index (engineering method) of sustainability in spatial planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early 2010s, only 23 countries had access to the liquefied natural gas (hereinafter – LNG). Import terminals, despite attractive short-term economics, took long time to build, and rigid supply contracts made truly global use of LNG rather complicated. Concerns about geo-political risks also stunted demand growth from existing supply sources, even when new LNG export routes and sources became available. Current natural gas market is very different, both in terms of market participants and accessibility and diversity of services. In 2019, the number of LNG importing countries reached 43. Rising competition among suppliers and increasing liquidity of markets themselves created favourable conditions to diversify contract duration, size, and flexibility. In addition, development of floating storage and regasification unit (hereinafter – FSRU) technology provided LNG suppliers with a quick response option to sudden demand fluctuations in regional and local natural gas markets [1]. Moreover, LNG is one of the major options not only for bringing the natural gas to regions where its pipeline supply infrastructure is historically absent, limited or underdeveloped, but also for diversification of the natural gas supply routes and sources in regions with sufficient state of pipeline delivery possibilities. And it concerns smaller natural gas markets, like the Baltic States and Finland as well. Accordingly, prospects for use of LNG there in both mid and long-term perspective must be carefully evaluated, especially in regards to emerging bunkering business in the Baltic Sea aquatory and energy transition in Finland, replacing coal base-load generation with other, more sustainable and environmentally friendly alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Comintern represented in the international relations of the inter-war period a transnational global force. It has been rightly described as an organisation with political program ambitions extending beyond national boundaries. Its sections were active in most countries of the globe. The involvement of the Comintern with the Baltic states and the activities of Baltic communists in the transnational framework of the organisation has remained almost unexplored. This article deals with the period from 1918 to 1935 and looks at the Baltic communists' activities in the Comintern before the Great Purges in the USSR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative is formed by several cultural, economic, social, political and institutional factors which have an impact on setting the priorities and advancement of CSR practices. The aim of this study is to assess CSR performance at the country level. In order to achieve this aim, the main drivers and barriers of CSR initiatives were identified and systematized based on literature review. The policies to address these barriers were analysed and discussed. The framework for the assessment of CSR performance was developed based on the analysis and assessment of the quality of political-regulatory, economic and social environment, implemented public policies to promote CSR and successes that were achieved by countries in implementing recommendations for public policy advancement. The indicators from Venture Capital and Private Equity Country Attractiveness Index, CSR policies areas reviews and EU recommendations for the improvement of public policies linked to the CSR were applied for assessing the CSR performance. The empirical analysis and the assessment of CSR performance in the Baltic States was performed based on the developed framework and policy recommendations that were developed for other countries, taking into account the priorities of “The Belt and Road” project that was initiated by the Chinese government and aiming at sustainable development and global risk mitigation.

Background and Objectives: Protozoan parasites—Cryptosporidium and Giardia—are important causes of diarrhea with an underestimated short-term burden on childhood growth and wellbeing in children under five years of age. The main transmission routes for both parasites are food and drinking water; transmission from person to person; and, due to their zoonotic nature, from domestic or wild animals to humans. The aims of the present study were to summarize the officially reported human cases of cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis in Latvia and to assess the occurrence of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in children within a prospective prevalence study. Materials and Methods: The number of officially reported cases of cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis in the time period of 2000–2020 was collected from the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control of Latvia. Data from a clinical diagnostic laboratory were included in the study in the period from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2018. Additionally, a prospective study was performed, and fecal samples were collected from unique 0–17-year-old patients from January to February 2021 and tested using fluorescent microscopy. Results: Overall, during the 20-year period, 71 cases (mean per year = 9) of cryptosporidiosis and 1020 (mean per year = 34) cases of giardiasis were officially reported in Latvia. Meanwhile, within the prospective study, we found 35 (6.0%; 95%CI 4.3–8.1) Cryptosporidium and 42 (7.2%; 95%CI 5.3–9.6) Giardia cases. Conclusions: Here, we provide clear proof that both Cryptosporidium and Giardia are underdiagnosed in Latvia, which could also be true for neighboring Baltic and European countries, where a low number of cases are officially reported. Therefore, we highlight the hypothesis that the actual number of cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis human cases in the Baltic states is higher than that officially reported, including in Latvia.

Many studies have documented the negative effect of corruption on development, economic growth, and democracy. Independent anti-corruption agencies are often recommended as the tool to curb corruption. However, their efficiency depends on the political will to allocate authority, powers, and resources. Moreover, setting up new institutions is always costly and accordingly problematic to low and middle income countries. The present study suggests that public administration processes in their own right are a tool to combat corruption. The article uses a survey with responses from 1706 public employees in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Using OLS regression, the study confirms others findings that strengthening meritocracy is an important factor in curbing corruption. It adds to this that enhancing monitoring is a factor just as effective against corruption as meritocracy. It adds attention to the reverse effect associated with hierarchical organizations, norms accepting rule bending, and network decisions. Finally, addressing salaries’ and performance payment’s impact on corruption the study finds no relation.

This study investigates asymmetry in the impact of domestic inflation drivers in the Baltic States, focusing on the output gap and unemployment gap. We aim to reveal how positive and negative changes in these economic activity indicators affect the inflation rate by employing a nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag approach (NARDL) and the Phillips curve. Empirical results demonstrate the long-run asymmetry as inflation in Estonia and Lithuania responds more significantly to positive changes in the output gap, whereas negative changes in the unemployment gap exhibit a stronger long-run impact on inflation in all three countries. These findings mainly suggest some extent of downward price rigidity in the Baltic economies, indicating a nonlinear Phillips curve and relatively large costs of disinflation policy directed to aggregate demand reduction. Further analysis reveals that increasing downward nominal wage flexibility could reduce these asymmetries in Estonia and, to a lesser extent, in Latvia and Lithuania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy sources (RES) are the main drivers of sustainable energy development. Notwithstanding the substantial expansion of renewables in the past decade, boosted by the various policies and measures, renewable energy sources are still far from full incorporation into the energy markets. It is necessary to overcome the remaining impediments for renewables to realize the energy transition to 100% renewable energy. The aim of this research is to analyze the main barriers of renewables and success of policies dealing with these barriers. The case studies in the Baltic States provide concrete examples of policies and their impacts in terms of overcoming barriers in relevant sectors: heating and cooling, power and transport. The assessment of policies in the Baltic States shows that there are a few measures that are implemented in the transport sector, although this sector encounters many social, economic, technological, and regulatory barriers. The countries have achieved the lowest results in approaching RES targets in transport. New financial incentives and investments in the development of infrastructure for electric vehicles are crucial for the development of markets of electric vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]