Essentially, the definition “region” in Lithuania is associated with three types of territorial units: administrative units of the state territory of higher level – counties (apskritys); ethnocultural regions; territorial units where Lithuania’s national regional policy and the European Union’s cohesion/neighbourhood policy are implemented.

Counties

After the re-establishment of independence in 1990, the country inherited the system of administrative-territorial units from the Soviet period. Established in 1960, this system was adjusted to suit the centralised government’s needs, but it was no longer suitable for a democracy. According to official documents, the administrative-territorial system in 1990- 1995 consisted of administrative-territorial units, which fell into two levels and five categories: cities of national importance (higher level), rajonai (districts) (higher level), towns of regional importance (lower level), urban-type settlements (lower level), and apylinkės (rural territories) (lower level). Administrative-territorial units of both the higher and lower levels were mostly small in terms of population. For instance, the units of the higher level with the population of 30 000 to 50 000 accounted for 42 % of the units of the higher level. It is assumed that during that period (1990 – 1995) there were no administrative-territorial units in Lithuania that could be called regions.

Since 1995 the system of administrative-territorial units in Lithuania has undergone essential changes. In 1995, 10 new administrative-territorial units of higher level, named apskritys (counties) which corresponded to the NUTS III level units, were established for the performance of state administrative functions, the implementation of national regional policy, and the absorption of support from the European Union Structural Funds and other financial instruments. Although, compared to the analogous entities in other European countries, those 10 new administrative- territorial units of the higher level were and still are relatively small; they, in particular, are called regions in Lithuania. According to the scientific classification of regions, the said regions are attributed to the group of administrative regions.

New administrative-territorial units of higher level (counties) were formed with the aim of implementing the provision of paragraph 1 of Article 123 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania stating that: ‘At higher level administrative units, the governance shall be organised by the central government according to the procedure established by law’. Thus it was decided that such government had to be implemented mainly by state officials who were appointed by the central government for a term of four years and were responsible for it, that is to say by county governors and their subordinate state budgetary institutions (county governor’s administration). The said state officials were appointed and the said institutions were established in the spring of 1995 and operated until 1 July 2010.

County governors and their subordinate institutions were constantly criticized by state politicians and municipalities. However, the latter greatly contributed to unpopular actions and required ‘harder decisions’ in the spheres of land reform, privatization of state property, and restoration of the ownership right to the existing real property to its former owners. After 15 years of work the positions of the said state officials and their subordinate institutions were abolished as presumably having completed their mission and duplicating the activities of other public administration entities. The functions performed by them were granted to municipalities and other state administration entities (e.g. the National Land Service under the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Education and Science, etc.) or these functions were withdrawn.