The worsening economic situation in the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania looked set to breed a fresh round of social unrest Today after Latvian unions threatened strike action over proposed budget cuts, according to dpa. "Some of our colleagues say we have to follow pre-strike procedures and warn employers that there are going to be strikes. This is one way. We can also stage pickets," Latvian trade union leader Peteris Krigers told LNT television. Krigers said protests would be likely if the government of Valdis Dombrovskis ignored union members' concerns over pay and workers' rights as it seeks to introduce public spending cuts of 500 million lats (1 billion dollars). Lithuanian unions and other groups are set to stage a demonstration outside the national parliament in Vilnius on Saturday over similar grievances, followed by a general strike on July 5 to 6. Demonstration organizer Kestutis Cilinskas said Saturday's action would be "firm but not bad-tempered" and would include a call for the government to break up national energy company Leo LT over claims that it was set up to benefit a small clique of oligarchs. "We want the Leo LT deal off. After the money is repaid we want the extreme anti-crisis measures called off as well, which are destroying businesses, employees and social security," Cilinskas told a press conference. Estonian unions plan to follow suit three days later in Tallinn as usually stoical Balts begin to display opposition to the waves of job losses and public expenditure cuts. Large-scale rallies calling for economic and political reforms in both Riga and Vilnius ended in riots earlier this year. All three Baltic states have been particularly hard hit by the global economic downturn. A decade-long boom came to an abrupt end in 2008 when real estate prices that had been inflated by cheap credit collapsed. Unemployment has reached double digits across the region and government revenues are shrinking despite tax hikes. Against a backdrop of job losses and economic stagnation, government agencies are redoubling their efforts to attract foreign investment with high-profile events in both Vilnius and Riga this week, trying to woo overseas capital and stimulate their stagnant economies. The Lithuanian government has established a "Sunrise Commission" of business experts tasked with identifying obstacles such as bureaucracy, Lithuanian Economy Minister Dainius Krievys told the German Press Agency dpa Thursday. "To cope with the crisis we introduced this fast-track initiative," he said after addressing the World Forum for Foreign Direct Investment in Vilnius.
