Budgetary Principles Act
Act on the Principles of Federation and Länder Budgetary Law (Budgetary Principles Act)
Section 51 – Consultation to coordinate the basic assumptions underlying budgetary and financial planning; observance of budgetary discipline within the framework of European Economic and Monetary Union
(1) To coordinate the budgetary and financial planning of the Federation, of the Länder, and of the municipalities and associations of municipalities, the Stability Council shall consult on the underlying macroeconomic and fiscal assumptions. In the process, due regard shall be given to the Federal Republic of Germany’s obligations to observe budgetary discipline that result from legal acts of the European Union on the basis of Articles 121, 126 and 136 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and, within this framework, to the requirements of overall economic equilibrium. The Stability Council may decide on recommendations for the purpose of coordinating budgetary and financial planning. The expected revenues and expenditures of the institutions designated in section 52 should be included in the consultations and recommendations, unless they are already contained in the financial planning of the Federation, the Länder, the municipalities and associations of municipalities.
(2) The general government structural deficit of the Federation, Länder, municipalities and social security funds must not exceed an upper limit of 0.5% of nominal gross domestic product. Details regarding the delimitation, calculation and permissible deviations from the upper limit, as well as the scope and time frame for reducing the general government structural deficit in the event of a deviation, are governed by Article 3 of the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union of 2 March 2012 (Federal Law Gazette 2012 II, p. 1006, 1008) and by Council Regulation (EC) No 1466/97 of 7 July 1997 on the strengthening of the surveillance of budgetary positions and the surveillance and coordination of economic policies (OJ L 209, 2.8.1997, p. 1), as last amended by Regulation (EU) No 1175/2011 (OJ L 306, 23.11.2011, p. 12).
Section 52 – Obligation to supply information
(1) The Federation and the Länder shall, through their ministries responsible for financial affairs, supply the Stability Council with the information it needs to carry out its tasks under section 51. The supply of information shall include the submission of the financial planning prepared in each area of responsibility using a uniform system.
(2) The Länder shall also supply information on behalf of their municipalities and other local-authority bodies. The same shall apply to the special funds and enterprises of the Länder, the municipalities and the associations of municipalities, as well as to the public-law entities established and controlled directly under Länder law, whose inclusion in the financial planning and consultations of the Stability Council is required. The Länder shall regulate the procedure.
(3) Special funds and enterprises of the Federation, as well as the public-law entities established and controlled directly under federal law shall supply the information required to the Federal Ministry of Finance, which shall pass it on to the Stability Council.
(4) The institutions for statutory health insurance, statutory long-term care insurance, statutory accident insurance and statutory pensions insurance, including pensions insurance for farmers, the associations thereof, other associations in the area of social security and the Federal Employment Agency shall, through the Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs, supply the Federal Ministry of Finance with the information required for the Stability Council; bodies established and controlled directly under Länder law shall supply such information through the Land’s supreme administrative authority responsible for social security.