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6.4. Parliamentary approval and oversight of the budget
The parliament has no formal role in budget preparation. Informally, the parliamentary
groups and Members may signal their priorities or give opinions. During the first half of the
year, Budget Committee (BC) rapporteurs often conduct on-site visits and are in regular
contact with officials in the ministries that they cover and with relevant sectoral officials
in the MOF.
30
In addition, every Member has the right to submit questions and every
parliamentary group has the right to submit bundles of questions (
Anfragen
) should they
wish to obtain specific information about the government’s budgetary intentions. The
government does not produce a pre-budget report and the legislature does not hold a
pre-budget debate. One of the results of the top-down budgeting reforms however is that
the parliament receives information earlier in the budgetary process with the March key
figures decision. Prior to the introduction of the top-down budgeting reform, the first
information parliament received came in July following Cabinet’s approval of the draft
budget. The benchmarks decisions are discussed in the BC but the legislature is not
involved in setting the budget ceilings required by the new top-down budgeting reform.
This differs from the practice, for example, in Sweden where the parliament debates the
government’s Spring Fiscal Policy Bill and approves the aggregate level of expenditures and
revenues, essentially ensuring the legislature’s commitment to the ceilings before they
review the budget.
31
The parliament comes to the fore during the budget approval phase. In line with OECD
best practices for budget transparency,
32
 the draft budget (Budget Act and budget proper
33
)
is submitted to the 
Bundestag
and the 
Bundesrat
simultaneously, around four months prior
to the start of the fiscal year, usually in late August and no later than “the first week of the
Bundestag’s
session following 1 September”.
34
 This allows adequate time for meaningful
legislative review. Along with the draft budget, the government submits a Financial Plan (or
medium-term budget strategy covering 5 years) and a Finance Report.
35
 The budget
presented to parliament has upwards of 6 000 line items so parliamentary scrutiny happens
at a very detailed – and some would argue an unnecessarily detailed – level. Parliament has
nevertheless resisted attempts at reforms that would have reduced the number of line
Table 5.