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Impact of parliamentary amendments – Budget Committee 
deliberations (thousand 
€
)
Fi
s
cal yea
r
2012
2013
2014
I
n
c
r
ea
s
e i
n
r
eve
nu
e
s
7 000 820
4 619 100
2 504 098
Red
u
ctio
n
of 
r
eve
nu
e
s
-5 691 240
-4 570 302
-4 704 538
I
n
c
r
ea
s
e i
n
expe
n
dit
ur
e
898 033
292 742
895 215
Red
u
ctio
n
i
n
expe
n
dit
ur
e
-1 847 382
-813 118
-2 633 714
Re
su
lti
n
g cha
n
ge i
n
total 
r
eve
nu
e
s
1 309 580
48 798
-2 200 440
Re
su
lti
n
g cha
n
ge i
n
total expe
n
dit
ur
e
-949 349
-520 376
-1 738 499
Source:
Federal Ministry of Finance.
Table 8.
Impact of parliamentary amendments – Budget Committee 
settlement session (thousand 
€
)
Fi
s
cal yea
r
2012
2013
2014
I
n
c
r
ea
s
e i
n
r
eve
nu
e
s
142 420
1 622
208 440
Red
u
ctio
n
of 
r
eve
nu
e
s
-1 252 000
-250 420
-8 000
I
n
c
r
ea
s
e i
n
expe
n
dit
ur
e
1 990 667
2 008 023
512 749
Red
u
ctio
n
i
n
expe
n
dit
ur
e
-841 318
-1 687 647
-774 250
Re
su
lti
n
g cha
n
ge i
n
total 
r
eve
nu
e
s
-1 109 580
-248 798
200 440
Re
su
lti
n
g cha
n
ge i
n
total expe
n
dit
ur
e
1 149 349
320 376
-261 501
Source:
Federal Ministry of Finance.

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BUDGET REVIEW: GERMANY
OECD JOURNAL ON BUDGETING – VOLUME 2014/2 © OECD 2015
71
opposition parliamentarians to scrutinise overall budget policies and objectives: at
present, government deputies enjoy easier (although by no means exclusive) access to
official channels.
38
6.7. Citizen engagement
The process of shaping the budget draws together contributions from many sources,
including from citizens themselves. The OECD endorses civic engagement as a strategy to
promote good government practices, close the gap between the government and citizens,
improve citizens’ trust, and reduce their cynicism towards government (Tanaka, 2009).
At the federal level, citizen engagement in the budget process (and more broadly)
remains limited, with public officials often uncertain of its potential and usefulness (EIPP,
2009). Initiatives are focused on providing information on the budget process and raising
citizen awareness. The Federal Ministry of Finance has extensive online resources available
to citizens including a special website that allows citizens to download the annual budget
documents, supplementary budgets, and underlying data, and to explore aspects of the
federal budget through interactive data visualisations (
www.bundeshaushalt-info.de/
startseite/
). 
By contrast, a wave of innovative approaches can be found at the municipal level. In its
6th Annual status report (2013) the online portal 
www.Buergerhaushalt.org
,
39
 noted that
there are 247 municipalities either considering or with experience of some form of
participatory budgeting. The vast majority of these exercises take the form of online
consultations but some include mailings, phone surveys and public meetings. They may
have the express goal of obtaining citizen input on cost saving measures (e.g. the “Solingen
Saves”
40
 initiative). Although sometimes criticised as expensive, with low participation
levels or too focused on middle-class participants, vulnerable to capture by lobby groups,
and in the case of savings measures as politicians “abdicating their responsibilities” to
citizens, these “experimental” local initiatives may raise both administrators and citizens’
expectations for broader engagement in future.