Who should attend

This workshop will provide an intense exchange of experience to professional staff and managers who participate in budget preparation and in development of national budget procedures (as described for instance in the Budget Code) in the Ministry of Finance, Office of the Prime Minister and Ministry of Public Administration, as well as professional staff and managers who take part In EU procedures of budget supervision or in EU budgetary peer review procedures.

The workshop will be highly participatory. Participants are supposed to take part in group exercises, to make individual presentations on the topics of the course and to be active in discussions in sub-groups and in plenary meetings.

What will you learn

Turmoil in the financial markets has in recent years led to increasing efforts on the part of the EU authorities to enhance the supervision on national budgets. Whereas the treaty of Maastricht that introduced the Euro included some fairly broad principles of fiscal prudence, subsequent packages of EU legislation sought to strengthen the requirements and specify sanctions in case of non-compliance. In addition, EU procedures were set up that provide a forum for national budget officials to exchange information and to discuss national experience with a view to gradual convergence of national standards towards European best practice (soft law).

Since European legislators have chosen to elaborate European requirements in subsequent packages of legislation that supplement previous packages, rather than substitute previous treaties and directives by new ones, the body of legislation concerning national budgets and the procedures for supervision and sanctioning have become fairly complicated. This course aims to provide national budget officials with all information, background knowledge and skills that are needed to assess national laws, regulations and standards in the light of European legislation and to participate in European supervisory procedures and peer review meetings.

Subjects that will be covered in the course include:

• The Treaty of Maastricht
• The so-called “six pack” of enhanced economic governance of 2011
• The so-called “ two pack” of enhanced economic governance of 2012
• The annual supervision cycle, including the “European semester”
• The “Fiscal Compact” of 2012
• Methodologies for the calculation of the structural deficit
• European budgetary peer review procedures.

The course will offer opportunity to study these subjects in detail and to discuss among participants the practical consequences of each of these legislative measures for national budgets and national budgetary procedures. The course will be equally relevant to officials of countries that have adopted the euro as to those of countries that have not (yet) done so, since most requirements of EU legislation apply equally to both groups of countries.

The course will consist of a mix of presentations and practical exercises. The practical exercises will focus on the application of European requirements on national budgets and budgetary procedures.

The course will be given by practitioners. The emphasis will be on practical country examples, with theoretical discussions kept to a minimum. The focus will be on concrete reforms that countries must adopt in order to comply with European requirements. The course has been tailored to the specific needs of South Eastern European countries, taken into account that most of these countries aspire to become members of the European Union and, in a later stage, to adopt the euro as currency.

The following topics will be discussed during the workshop:

• EU legislation concerning national budget and national budget procedures;
• EU supervision and enforcement procedures concerning national budgets and national budget procedures;
• EU budgetary peer review procedures.

How will you benefit

The overall objective of this course is to help participants better understand the EU requirements on national budgets and national budget procedures.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Explain the various packages of EU legislation that contain requirements for national budgets and national budget procedures as well as the key concepts and rules that each of these packages contains.
• Explain the European methodology for calculation of the structural deficit.
• Apply European legislation concerning budget supervision to their national budgets and budget procedures and assess the reforms that are necessary to attain compliance with the relevant requirements.
• Take active part in peer review procedures focused on best practice in public financial management organized by the EU and other international organizations (OECD, IMF).