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Bundestag amendments to the budget adopted in 2009-13
Fi
s
cal yea
r
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
N
u
mbe
r
of ame
n
dme
n
t
s
adopted
1 053
1 142
1 080
919
947
Source:
Secretariat of the Budget Committee of the 
Bundestag
.

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BUDGET REVIEW: GERMANY
OECD JOURNAL ON BUDGETING – VOLUME 2014/2 © OECD 2015
70
6.6. Conclusions on the role of parliament
The German parliament enjoys a reputation as one of the most influential and
fiscally prudent legislatures as regards the budget process
. The 
Bundestag’s
role is
enhanced by the Budget Committee’s system of rapporteurs shadowing particular line
ministries, the integration of the approval and audit functions, the powers of the Budget
Committee and the 
Bundestag
to amend the draft budget, and the special power to insert
a “qualified freeze”. These powers ensure a genuine democratic control of the public
finances. 
However, the focus on micro-level management of budgetary allocations could be
better balanced with higher-level accountability
on the objectives and impacts of
expenditure policy. In particular:
●
At present, parliament lacks a systematic, routine evidence-base for monitoring the public
service impacts of financial allocations. At minimum, the budgetary documentation for
each line Ministry should specify concisely the strategic objectives for each area of
spending.
●
While parliamentarians enjoy good access to detailed information from the MOF and the
BRH, there is a certain imbalance of analytical capacity at the disposal of parliament in
making higher-level independent assessments of the executive’s budgetary policy and
its impacts. Some mechanisms for addressing this imbalance could be explored, taking
account of Germany’s established institutions and cultural norms. Parliament could
revisit the option of an independent Parliamentary Budget Office, or enhance existing
analytical resources/staffing capacity within the parliamentary administration. Other
options might include a re-configuration of existing independent institutions (or of their
mandates) so that they are more directly at the disposal of parliament in addressing
broader questions of budgetary policy. Such initiatives would also enhance the ability of
Table 7.