Latvia has third highest number of public holidays among EU member states

  • 2018-03-18
  • LETA/TBT Staff

RIGA - This year, Latvia has the third highest number of public holidays among EU member states, according to the data on public holidays in the bloc’s member states in 2018, published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Latvia this year marks 17 days as official public holidays. The list of public holidays released by the EU gazette also includes dates that are marked as official public holidays but fall on Sundays, which means that they are not always associated with extra days-off.

The EU member states with even more public holidays than Latvia are Bulgaria which marks 20 days as public holidays and Belgium, which has 24 public holidays this year.

Meanwhile, Lithuania has 13 and Estonia 12 public holidays this year.

As reported, Latvia’s ruling coalition parties have backed Unity party’s proposal to make November 11 or Lacplesis Day, when Latvia commemorates its fallen soldiers, an official public holiday. Entrepreneurs, however, are objecting to the initiative, arguing that an extra day-off from work would have a negative effect on productivity.