Parliament and Public Finance

This policy paper is one of a series of papers requested by the EP's Committee on Foreign Affairs in connection with its role as (rotating) chair of the Parliamentary Troika of the Stability Pact for South East Europe in 2006. The Committee has been organising four parliamentary seminars involving representatives from the relevant specialised parliamentary bodies (committees and sub-committees) from the region. This paper examines the role of parliaments and supreme audit institutions in budgetary expenditure, departing from the Belgian model. It will be presented and discussed at the workshop on parliamentary oversight of budgetary expenditure on 8 June 2006 in Brussels, in the specific context of experience and challenges in countries in South East Europe.