The Advisory Department of the Council of State has published information on the consequences and the course of action for the Senate regarding a rejected budget. The Senate made this request for information to the Council of State on March 25, 2025.
Background
During the parliamentary treatment of the national budget for 2025 in the Senate, it became apparent that rejecting one or more budget bills was a real possibility. The consequences of this were unclear: in 1907, the Senate last rejected a budget, and the 2016 Accounting Act did not take into account the rejection of a budget proposal. Against this background, the Chairman of the Senate asked the Advisory Department to provide information. Central to this are the constitutional consequences of and the course of action regarding the rejection of a budget for individual ministers, the government, and parliament.
In its request, the Senate asked, among other things, to what extent, after rejection, one could fall back on the approved budget of the previous year, whether the government may submit a new draft budget if parliament has rejected the first draft, and what any shortcomings or ambiguities in existing legislation are. The Senate also sought clarity on the consequences for society of obligations already entered into and the legality of entering into obligations and making expenditures after rejecting a draft budget. Finally, the Senate wanted to know what the consequences were of budgets rejected in the past.
By approving a budget bill, parliament authorizes the government to make expenditures and enter into obligations. This is also known as parliamentary budget rights. The authorization only has effects in the mutual relationship between the government and parliament.
The Advisory Department of the Council of State notes that the Constitution aims to ensure a timely and simultaneous start of the parliamentary budget treatment by establishing the moment at which proposals for general budget laws are submitted. By nature of budget rights, parliament can reject a budget bill. If that happens, the Constitution allows the government to submit a new budget bill. With such a new proposal, the necessary parliamentary authorization can still be obtained.
To prevent a period without a budget or to keep this period as short as possible, the Advisory Department suggests establishing in the 2016 Accounting Act that the government must promptly submit a new budget bill if either House rejects a budget bill.
You can read the text of the information from the Advisory Department here.
Read here the news article about the information request from the Senate to the Council of State.