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transformed the federal budgetary process so that overall fiscal discipline is now a
primary controlling factor during the formulation phase.
This change of emphasis is
accepted by budgetary participants, although line ministries note that sector-specific
policies, which could be raised and prioritised during traditional budgetary negotiations
with the Federal Ministry of Finance, no longer have the same ability to alter the fiscal
policy priorities. This puts an added bonus upon line Ministries to ensure that their limited
resources are used to optimum effect, and upon the Federal Ministry of Finance to facilitate
the line Ministries in this regard (see also xi below). The practice (introduced in 2013 and
carried forward in 2014) of convening State Secretaries at the outset of the annual budget
season, and gaining wider political appreciation of the budgetary constraints and realities,
has had positive effects on management of the overall budgetary process. A more
structured role for the Federal Chancellery in this political co-ordination process could be
useful in coming years, both in terms of cementing the essential strong relationship with
the Federal Ministry of Finance, and in ensuring alignment of the budgetary process with
government-wide priorities and planning (see xi(a) below). 
iv) The medium term dimension of budgeting is strong;
with the move to top-down
budgeting, the multi-year aspects of budgeting – exemplified in the Financial Plan which
traditionally accompanies the draft budget – have become more effective in setting the
parameters for the subsequent budgeting cycles. In particular, the annual “benchmark
decision” on broad budget limits is strongly influenced by the figures set out in the
previous year’s Financial Plan, with necessary updates. The multi-annual rollover of
budgetary cycles is, nevertheless, an administrative practice led by the Federal Ministry of
Finance; regulating and specifying this practice more formally, reflecting the experience of
the initial years, and delineating more clearly the space for new policy initiatives and
review, would more firmly anchor the process as a fixed element of the new budgeting
system.