The Fiscal Budget Procedure

The annual fiscal budget is an important part of the Storting's work and is a particularly busy time of year for the members. This page provides information about the procedure which takes place when the budget is being adopted.

According to the Constitution, the Storting is to be the final authority in matters concerning the finances of the State - expenditures as well as revenues. The Storting thus allocates funds, i.e. it places funds at the disposal of the executive power -the Government. The Storting does not just permit money to be spent for specific purposes, it also has the power to order such expenditures. The rules which prescribe the form of the Fiscal Budget are provided in the Appropriations Regulations, and the procedure for adopting the budget is set out in the Storting's Rules of Procedure.

When the Storting convenes in the autumn, the Fiscal Budget is always the first item of business to be dealt with, and the proceedings to adopt the budget take most of the autumn session.

The Fiscal Budget is probably the most important tool of government available to the Storting and the Government. Through the budget, the guidelines for the activities of the State for the coming year are drawn up. Proposition No. 1 (the "Yellow Book") is submitted by the fourth day of the session, at which time the Minister of Finance appears before the Storting to present the budget proposition in his Budget Statement. The Budget Statement forms part of the basis material for the subsequent budget debate.

Before the budget is submitted to the Storting, it has undergone an exhaustive procedure in which all government institutions and branches of the government administration have been involved.

The Ministry of Finance sets up a complete fiscal budget proposal, which includes the National Insurance scheme, after discussions between the ministries and the Government have been concluded. The Budget receives the official approval of the King in Council, whereupon it is submitted to the Storting as Proposition No. 1 to the Storting.

In the Storting, the Working Procedures Committee (see The Standing Committees), which comprises the Presidium, the chairmen of the standing committees and the leaders of the party groups, is responsible for assigning the various chapters of the budget to the appropriate committees. The recommendation concerning these assignments is dealt with and passed by the Storting in plenary session. The Working Procedures Committee also sets deadlines for completion and return of the budget recommendations by the committees.

The fiscal budget proceedings are coordinated by the standing committee on Finance and Economic Affairs, which by the 20 November at the latest, presents a recommendation concerning the National and Fiscal Budgets, with a proposed resolution on budget limits for appropriations in accordance with the spending program laid down by the Storting. The committee submits at the same time a recommendation concerning taxes and duties, revenue items and block grants to municipalities and counties. The Storting shall deal these recommendations within one week. This is then followed by the annual budget debate. The Storting`s resolution on budget limits is binding for the subsequent consideration of the budget during the same year.

During the budget debate, the most important arguments for and against the Governments`s general economic policy are presented, and indications are given of the support that can be anticipated by the Government. The debate is concluded by a vote on the proposals submitted in the recommendations. The amounts for all the separate spending programs are fixed collectively in a single resolution. In the following period, the sanding committees submit recommendations concerning appropriations within the spending programs allocated to then, witch shall include all chapters and items within each separate spending program.

The standing committee may only make reallocations within the limits that has been decided. This means that increases in expenditure must be matched by decreases in expenditure or by increases in income. The budget recommendations of the standing committees shall be considered by the Storting by 15th December at the latest, culminating in the Storting`s final budget resolution. The amounts for all the separate items within a spending program are fixed collectively in a single resolution.

The recommendations of the individual committees are dealt with in plenary session. In debates on the individual budget recommendations, strict time limits are observed in order to ensure that the entire budget will go through in time. The length of these debates varies from four to five hours for the shortest, to nine to ten hours for the longest.

Budget proceedings are subject to a strict time limit - no more than 2 1/2 months may be used to adopt a budget. In extraordinary cases, such as a change in government (as in 1997), the time available may be even shorter.

The period during the budget preceding is often extremely hectic. However, in practice, the Storting accepts the Government's proposals, with minor changes. The Government`s proposal and the Storting`s resolution normally differ financially by less than one per cent. The signal given by the Storting by means of its comments and priorities are perhaps of greater political significance, since they may influence subsequent budgets.

The Storting makes many of its appropriations in the form of block grants or "umbrella appropriations", so that it is up to the Government to make the final decisions about how the fund are to be applied.

Any royal Preposition concerning amendments to all the separate budgets of the individual ministries shall be submitted by 15th May during the fiscal year concerned, in the submission of the the Report to the Storting concerning the Revised National Budget. The standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs submits recommendations concerning such amendments by the second Friday in June, at the latest.

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Last updated 29.08.2000