The European Union (EU) is implementing the concept of the circular economy (hereafter -CE) system, the main idea of which is to maintain the added value in products for as long as possible both to improve the quality of the environment and eliminate waste. These provisions presuppose the improvement of EU waste management systems and legal regulation. The European Commission proposed a legislative package for amending the main Directives related to waste management. The European Parliament and the Council adopted this document in 2018. The legislative package amends six Directives, which are the main components of the legal framework for waste management in the EU. These are systematic changes in EU waste law regulation and include: the modification of the waste management system; the alignment of definitions; and the formulation of new legal definitions (for example municipal waste, backfilling) or establishment of qualitative and quantitative indicators which cover the meaning of waste hierarchy. The aim of this article is to divulge the main legal changes, and to evaluate their content in the context of the concept of the CE.

The process of organization and functionality of one of the most important attributes of any modern democratic legal state, i.e. the state power, is based on certain principles. The principle of separation of powers is universally acknowledged as such a fundamental principle, thus it is generally established in the constitutions of democratic states. Upon restoration of Independence1 the state power in the Republic of Lithuania is also implemented based on the doctrine of separation of powers. Particularly increased interest in this phenomenon was determined by transition to new grounds for organization of the state power in Lithuania since 11 March 1990. Furthermore, the relevance of this issue was also determined by the lack of clear enough regulation of the principle of separation of powers in the Constitution of Republic of Lithuania. The research starts with the topic of legal indetermination of the principle of separation of powers, brief review of the historical aspect (development) thereof as well as revelation of the essence and the meaning of this principle. The Article analyses which Article (Paragraph thereof) of the Constitution of Republic of Lithuania regulates the aforementioned principle based on the doctrine of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania and work done by scholars of the constitutional law. In absence of clear differentiation of authorities implementing state power by branches in the Constitution, the necessity to determine the relation between the highest-ranking authorities implementing the state power (the Parliament (Lithuanian: Seimas)), the President of the Republic and the Government, Court) and the respective type of the state power becomes relevant. In general, the aim of this Article is to reveal the essence of the doctrine of separation of powers, to discuss regulation thereof by the fundamental state law of Lithuania, and to identify the state authorities representing certain branches of the state power. The conclusions of the conducted research are presented at the end of the Article.

With a view to modernising state management in the last decade, Lithuania has focused mainly on observing the experience of how foreign countries have handled state management and the development of the self-government system. Lithuania did not gain experience in self-government due to historical circumstances, and it has been a problematic transition, so efforts were made to learn from countries with many years of experience in the self-government, although the process has been challenging The municipal administration of each country has the task of implementing the functions delegated in laws and supporting the decisions of municipal politicians in order to establish and maintain ongoing public services. The municipal administration can achieve its goals by establishing efficient structural departments with clearly defined functions, decision-making, accountability and control mechanisms. The article features a good practice of Lithuania � the analysis of municipal administrations by proving that the municipal system is the best system for representative and executive municipal institutions to properly perform municipal functions established by law and where the staff of such municipal administration can ensure the performance of these functions. Citizens of each country take an interest in the political and administrative space where important decisions that affect their daily lives are made. The decisions made in municipalities directly affects the provision of public services to municipal residents, so the influence of these decisions is analysed in more detail than anywhere else in municipalities The aim of the article on the analysis of Lithuania�s municipal administrations� system is to analyse peculiarities of municipal administrations� structure, legal framework; to assess the quality of internal administration; and to provide suggestions for improving the legal framework in order to ensure optimal quality of activities of municipal administrations. In order to achieve the aim, the article is divided into theoretical and analytical parts, and provides conclusions and suggestions. The theoretical part analyses what is the organizational structure of the municipality and what should it be; examines the types of organizational structure, the degree of centralization/decentralization and its impact on organisational structure, while assessing management standard and its �height�, along with other legal regulation and administration issues. The analytical part of the article specifically investigates the municipal administrations of Lithuania chosen according to relevant criteria, identifying both positive and negative (to be corrected) legal regulation and administration areas. Recommendations are provided, based on theoretical and analytical parts, and with consideration of the responses from respondents obtained during surveys, in order to ensure the implementation of objectives set out in this article.

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