Country Profile: Lithuania

• Author: Naldini, Andrea; Pompili, Marco; Peruccacci, Eleonora
• Pages: 198-201

198

17.COUNTRY PROFI LE: LI THUANI A

17.1.Sect ion 1-National r ules for t he evaluation ofSt ate aidschemes

17.1.1.Obligat ion or lack ther eof to evaluat e

Evaluation culture in Lithuania has started to develop as a direct result of the EU

regulat ions an d the need to evaluate t he r elevance, efficiency ef fectiveness an d im pact

of the EU funds. The evaluation of support provided from the ESIF is conducted on a

systematic basis, mostly by externalevaluators. Evaluation of the ESIF is coordinated

by the Managing Authority–the Ministryof Finance and is planned in advance on t he

basis of evaluation plans that cover the whole programming period (the so called

“evaluation strategy”) and every financial year (annual evaluation plans that include

evaluation foreseen in the evaluation strategy and some other evaluat ion based onad

hocneeds) .

The goo d p ract ices and cap acit y d eve lope d in t he fiel d of Coh esion Polic y ev alu ati on had

led to the extension of the evaluation practice to all public investments, not only the

ESIF, and other types of government intervention (regulatory, taxation, etc.). This

initiat ive is one of the elem ent s of the Strategic Planning and Budget Reform , w hich is

du e t o be com plet ed by the b egin ning o f 2 021 . Th e pu rpo se of t his refo rm is to deve lop

a more reliable and better-quality systemof strategic planning and to strengthen

perform ance budgeting.As a result of this ongoing reform, public expenditure review

t ools wer e int ro duce d i n 2 01 9 a nd th e f ir st exp end itu re re vie ws in th e t hr ee pub lic pol icy

areas -social protecti on, health care, and e ducat ion-w ere carried out.

In Lithuania, the evaluation system of Stat e aidschemes is not well developed. There

is a clear regulatory obligation and responsibility forex-ante assessmentof grants of

State aidfor compliance with the EU regulations. This function is delegated to the

Competition Council of Lithuania. Since 2016, granting authorit ies have been required

to o btain ex-an te com pat ibility opin ionsfrom the Comp etiti on Co uncil a dvis ing them on

the compatibility of their project with the State aidrules. However, Council

recommendations concerning State aidare not required to be adopted by State aid

gr anting aut hor ities.

17.1.2.Proced ures t o enfor ce t he o bligation

The an aly sis o f St at e ai dsche mes is lim it ed t o ex-anteasse ssme nts . I n Lith uan ia, t her e

is no legis lat ion dir ectl y co mp ellin g i nst itu tio ns t o c arr y o ut ex-p ost eval uat ion s ofState

aidschemes. The impact of State aidschemes might only indirectly and partially be

evaluated by conducting ESI Funds evaluations and in ad hoccases by the Supreme

Aud it In stitu tio n –Nat ion al Au dit Of fice of Lith uan ia. For ex amp le,theSt ate aid schem e

SA.41540Aid t o public legal persons – science and technology parks (STPs)fell wit hin

the scop eof state audit car ried out by the National Audit Office in 2017.