ABSTRACT
The discussion of the budget is one of the most important moments of the parliamentary year. The consideration of the budget has been, since 1982, a fundamental power of parliament over government policy. It is also one of the few bills where the whole deliberation process is fully recorded and published. 1 In the case of an ordinary bill, only the chamber proceedings are published and no information is given about the discussion and voting in committee. Only in the case of a few bills, such as the revision of the constitution and the budget, are the committee proceedings recorded. The case study of the budget provides us therefore with an excellent opportunity to look into the committee stage discussion and voting. What is more, because every year a new budget is discussed, it also allows a comparative analysis over the years.
