🔟 Labour & Skills: EU Talent Pool Meets Baltic Language Requirements
EU institutions have reached a provisional deal on the EU Talent Pool, a voluntary digital platform that matches EU-based employers with non-EU jobseekers without changing national rules on visas or residence. For the Baltics, where labour shortages in construction, logistics, manufacturing and care are structural, the platform could become a useful recruitment channel alongside existing regulated schemes. At the same time, Lithuania will require all customer-facing workers to serve clients in Lithuanian from 1 January 2026, and Latvia’s Saeima Legal Affairs Committee has backed draft amendments to raise fines for violations of Latvian-language requirements. Together, these trends point to a more structured – and stricter – environment: easier discovery of foreign talent at the EU level, but tighter national language obligations in everyday services.
1️⃣1️⃣ Baltic–Taiwan Research Ties Deepen
Latvia’s Ministry of Education and Science confirms that four new Latvia–Lithuania–Taiwan research projects have been approved for 2026–2028, bringing the total number of active trilateral projects to 12. The programme covers biomedicine, materials science, environmental sciences and sports science, with each partner country funding projects directly from its national budget. Exact-science projects receive €25,000 per partner annually and humanities/social-science projects €20,000. The framework, established in 2000, is increasingly positioning Taiwan as a key high-tech research partner for the Baltic region, strengthening early-stage R&D capacity while leaving downstream industrial scaling and production to be addressed through additional partnerships and investment.
1️⃣2️⃣ Lithuania Adjusts Investment Climate: Taxes and Transport
Vilnius City Council has set the 2026 commercial property tax rate at 0.8%, retreating from earlier proposals for higher rates that would have sharply increased costs for businesses in central districts. Real estate developers describe the decision as a rational move that avoids a “tax shock”, supporting investment and job creation in the capital’s core commercial areas. In parallel, Lithuania has opened an expanded terminal at Kaunas Airport, doubling throughput from 400 to 800 passengers per hour and targeting 2 million travellers annually, with airBaltic set to launch Kaunas–Riga flights next spring. The combination of moderated tax pressure and upgraded transport infrastructure signals a deliberate effort to strengthen Lithuania’s regional competitiveness and city-level investment appeal.
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