In case of Lithuania European Union (EU) accession negotiation lasted relatively shortly (from February 2000 till December 2002). However, such a quick proceeding was possible because the actual preparation for accession and membership started much earlier than formal accession talks. The European Commission devised and sophisticated specific pre-accession mechanisms for Central and Eastern European (CEE) applicant countries with an objective for them gradually to take over almost the whole acquis even before accession. The EU’s assistance to the CEE countries has also evolved accordingly. PHARE programme which was initially targeted at helping CEE make the transition to a market economy in 1998 started to focus mainly on pre-accession. The chapter analyses the following main parameters of the EU’s financial assistance allocated to Lithuania from 1991 to 2006: 1) amount and distribution of allocated financial resources; 2) management of the assistance at the national level; 3) assessment of main effects and outcomes of the assistance. The analysis covers all three main stages of evolution of PHARE: 1) 1991–1997 support for transitional economic reform; 2) 1998–2000 support for National Programme for the Adoption of the Aquis; 3) 2000–2006 support for developing mechanisms and institutions to implement the Structural Funds after accession.