DE EVALUACION Y SELECCION DE

territorial self-govern- ment – municipal office branches, city areas and city districts which can be established within the units of local self- government.





The central role in the Government is played by the ruling party (or the rul- ing coalition of parties), where the members of the Government usually come from. The work of the Government is constantly under a watchful eye of the broadest public and is the subject of its interest. It is also exposed to constant pressures from various interest groups. In the parliamentary elections, voters evaluate how successfully the Government has done its job. A negative rating of the Government’s performance also means a negative rating of its mem- bers, as well as of the political party to which they belong.

As a rule, the Government is confirmed by Parliament to which it is account- able for its work and decisions. At the Parliament’s request, the Government is obliged to submit a report on its work and the policies it implements.

The Ministry of Finance

The Ministry of Finance is the executive body of the Government and a ben- eficiary of the national budget. It is responsible for the Government’s fiscal policy implementation and the accomplishment of the defined budgetary goals. In the first phase of the budgetary process, the Ministry of Finance makes analyses and forecasts of macroeconomic developments which pro- vide a basis for fiscal policy and budget formulation; draws up the Govern- ment’s programme strategy as a framework for developing economic and

fiscal policy guidelines and drawing up a budget by programme. It also is-

sues and delivers to budget users instructions for drafting a national budget proposal, draws up and checks the budget, devises the revenue collection methods, monitors the execution of expenditure and provides, on behalf of the Government, all services relating to the collection and spending of bud- getary resources. Briefly said, the Ministry of Finance creates a basis for the financing of all public needs of both budgetary and extra-budgetary users, as well as of local and regional units.

Budget users

The users of the national budget are government bodies (the ministries and state agencies), institutions, minority self-government councils, budgetary

funds and territorial self-government units whose expenses for employ-

ees and/or material expenses are financed from the national budget. Con- sequently, this also includes: Parliament, the President of the Republic, the Government and the Ministry of Finance. The budget users must use bud- getary resources for the purposes and objectives for which they have been founded (for example, the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports – for education and university education programmes, for the development of sci- ence and promotion of scientific and research activities, as well as sports). The checking, supervision and audit of the use of budgetary resources allo-

State Audit Office – an independent and au- tonomous institution ac- countable to Parliament, which is responsible for the audit of all the bud- gets, extra-budgetary users, state and public enterprises, ownership transformation and pri- vatisation, and the au- dit of enterprises fully or partly financed from the budget.

cated to individual budget users is carried out by the Ministry of Finance and the State Audit Office (external audit), but also by each budget user for itself (internal supervision).

Citizens

Citizens elect their representatives who decide on their behalf about all mat- ters of national importance, including the national budget. Large amounts of money flow into the budget, but are spent as well. The way of collecting and, particularly, spending this money is not just the concern of our representa- tives in the Government, Parliament, the Ministry of Finance and other min- istries. The budget is too important to be left to individual politicians and various interest groups and lobbies. Citizens and various governmental and non-government institutions and organisations should be actively involved in the budgetary process.

What can every citizen do?

Members of parliament and other agents wanting to move a law or amendments to a particular law can refer to petitions and proposals from citizens, which they are entitled to submit pursuant to the Consti- tution (Article 130 of the Standing Orders of the Croatian Parliament). Each citizen has the right to file petitions and complaints, or make pro- posals to the national and other public authorities, and to receive replies from them. Where a citizen’s petition or proposal is submitted to Parlia- ment, the Speaker of Parliament will forward it to the chairperson of the relevant working body which is bound, no later than within three months, to make a report on the outcome of the petition or proposal (Article 46 of the Constitution).

The representatives elected by citizens can set priorities for the financing of public needs and projects that do not necessarily reflect the citizens’ desires. However, through the media, through scientific institutions, non-govern- ment organisations and interest groups, the public can and even ought to be involved in the debate about the budget adoption and budgetary resources allocation. Interest groups like trade unions or employers do try, and very of- ten manage, to push through their own interests. Apart from them, the bud- get can be influenced by citizens’ associations, various chambers (the cham- bers of industry or commerce, bar associations, and medical chambers), churches and religious communities, as well as individuals. The influence of particular agents depends on their power and level of organisation. Once you get to know the budgetary process, you can also try to contribute to the more efficient management of the taxpayers’ money flowing into the budget.

Budget planning and preparation Resource allocation plan Budget adoption by Parliament Audit Accounting Reporting

Control and supervision of expenditure Liquidity management

Budget execution

financial plan – a docu- ment drafted by a bud- getary or extra-bud- getary user showing its revenue and expendi- ture.





Main phases of the budgetary