Problems of regional administration in Estonia
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Minister of Regional Affairs, Pro Patria and Res Publica Union
For the purposes of regional policy, the local government regional administrative level is generally considered to be a region in the European Union.
Estonia´s current county governments are not therefore the subject of regional policy in the European sense. County associations of local governments, on the other hand, are not sufficiently well-developed. In the course of regional administration, the current county governments should in the future become above all an institution which performs state supervision. The county would become a region for cooperation between local government units led by a county association of local governments. The primary function of this arrangement is to ensure the comprehensive and balanced development of the county and to link branch policies to each other on the regional level through a county development plan. In addition to the level of representation of local inhabitants, the decision-making powers of the institution that represents them would increase as well, and both the state and the interests of the population in the county would stand to gain as a result.