Budget right
Budget law or budget law called the law elected office holders of a local authority , through the budget to decide that authority. The budget right is also called the 'royal right of parliament '. It's part of budget law .
anchoring
The budget right of the Bundestag is protected in the Basic Law; that of the state parliaments in the respective state constitutions , that of the municipalities in the local constitutions of the states. In practice, however, a parliament has only limited influence on the size and structure of the respective budget, because it is obliged to spend a lot of money by the constitution, laws or other regulations (e.g. intergovernmental agreements). Since the parliament also has a legislative function (“ legislature ”), it can change “its own” laws (a country can, for example, only initiate a change in federal law together with other countries via the Bundesrat ). In addition, the draft budget makes it clear what financial consequences decisions are likely to have; However, only the annual financial statements, which account for the actual income and expenditure, provide certainty about this.
Control and influence
The budget right is the parliament's strongest control over the government. This must disclose in detail in the budget which expenses are planned. The budget is therefore also called the ' government program cast in numbers '. Requests for changes by individual MPs or a parliamentary group to the budget are first discussed in the respective technical committee and - if this is in favor - then in the finance committee. If this is also in favor, the change request will be voted in plenary . No budget is approved as originally presented by the government. This is also due to the fact that lobbyists bring the interests of their institutions to the committee deliberations.
In principle, parliament can no longer exert any influence on approved budgets. If the circumstances change and if expenditure becomes necessary that is not provided for in the budget or is not provided for in the required amount, the finance minister can approve this himself under certain conditions and within certain financial limits (set by parliament); otherwise the finance minister has to submit a supplementary budget to parliament. In the case of construction work in particular, however, higher expenses than originally planned are generally accepted by MPs, as this is usually the lesser evil compared to leaving a "ruined building".