Andrius Stasiukynas

Effective development of the legal framework promotes the production of energy from renewable energy sources (RES) that provide an alternative to fossil fuel energy and environmental protection. According to these provisions, the article performs content analysis of the Lithuanian RES legal framework and discloses regulatory grounds and barriers to RES development

The paper presents a study, which describes the current governance model of the electricity sector in Lithuania. Electricity and energy production and distribution is highly regulated worldwide. This is also true in Lithuania, where the electricity sector is highly politically prominent, and policy is highly centralized. There are geopolitical concerns towards Russia, which is an important supplier of electricity, and Lithuania’s grid is highly integrated with that of Russia. In addition, Lithuania is a small country dominated by a small number of large state-owned producers and has no regional administrations. Lithuania rhetorically has adopted increased citizen participation as a strategic policy goal. The study investigates how far the rhetorics are followed up by policy planning, implementation, and development of new governance modes. The authors base the study on interviews with 19 experts and regulation analysis. The study found that regulation process is transparent, but this causes lower public interest and consequently lower citizen participation. Existing stakeholder involvement at the policy level is highly arbitrary and favorable to large electricity producers. As production is set to decentralize, this has the potential to overburden the regulatory system and cause conflict between different producers.

Civil participation is the main component of effective governance. The topicality of this paper lies in civil participation in decision-making defined by the principles of “new public governance” of the 21st century. This study aims to analyze the impact of civil participation in decision-making on waste management at the municipal level. In this work, the following aspects were considered: theoretical assumptions of civil participation; civil participation in the activities of institutions responsible for environmental protection; issues regarding the development of opportunities of citizens’ involvement in municipal waste management. The article is devoted to the theoretical assumptions about civil participation, theoretical model of analysis, and activity of institutions. To develop a theoretical model of analysis, a classification of civil participation was carried out. Among the methods used, one can mention the questionnaire. The analysis was focused on a legal basis for the activity of institutions; the actual activity of institutions and survey of representatives of the national environmental authorities in Lithuania. The results showed that currently there is no mechanism in Lithuania to ensure civil participation in municipal waste management. Civil participation is still formal and limited. Overall, citizens are informed about the decisions made, but they do not participate actively in decision-making. The analysis of civil participation capacity in waste management leads to the conclusion that Lithuania has no single mechanism to ensure civil participation in waste management. To enhance civil participation in decision-making on waste management, it is suggested to set up a council where the representatives of civil population are delegated.