Agenda for the roundtable on assessing fiscal responsibility criteria and contributing to fiscal responsibility jointly organised by the Montenegrin State Audit Institution and SIGMA. This roundtable is taking place in Podgorica on 28 May 2015. For further information please contact bianca.breteche@oecd.org.

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ROUNDTABLE
‘ASSESSING FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY CRITERIA
AND CONTRIBUTING TO FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY’
AGENDA
Podgorica, 28 May 2015

2. Background
The new law on budget and fiscal responsibility, adopted on 14 April 2014, provides the State Audit
Institution (SAI) of Montenegro with a new responsibility which is an assessment of the application of the
Fiscal Responsibility Criteria (Article 26). According to this new article, the SAI shall assess the application
of the fiscal responsibility criteria as part of the annual report submitted to the Parliament. Based on the
assessment of the SAI, the Ministry of Finance shall propose to the Government, and the Government
shall in turn propose to the Parliament, a plan for the recovery of numeric limits being exceeded, in
accordance with this Law.
How can sound and sustainable public finances be ensured? In practice, public debt-to-GDP ratios across
many EU Member States have followed an upward trend since the mid-1970s, implying a growing
burden on future generations. Recently, the fiscal impact, stemming from the financial and economic
crisis, has further increased debt ratios, intensifying the need for fiscal consolidation in view of ageing
populations. Policy experiences show that strong fiscal governance is an important factor for fiscal
performance insofar as it can help contain the deficit bias of fiscal policy making, which has been
frequently observed across EU Member States over the past decades. This has also been acknowledged
by the European Council which, in the reform of the Stability and Growth Pact of 2005, asked EU
Member States to strengthen their domestic fiscal governance through fiscal rules and institutions.
National fiscal governance, or domestic fiscal frameworks, can be defined as those rules, regulations and
procedures that influence how budgetary policy is planned, approved, carried out and monitored.
According to the most common definition, fiscal policy rules set numerical targets for budgetary
aggregates. More specifically, they pose a permanent constraint on fiscal policy, expressed in terms of a
summary indicator of fiscal outcomes, such as the government budget balance, debt, expenditure, or
revenue developments. Whilst the first primary objective of fiscal rules is to enhance budgetary
discipline, they can also foster policy co-ordination between different levels of government depending
on their institutional coverage. Additionally, fiscal rules may further contribute to reducing uncertainty
about future fiscal policy developments.
However, fiscal rules can only yield these benefits if both appropriate institutions for monitoring and
enforcement mechanisms are in place.
Approach
The Roundtable aims to share the experiences of EU member states of how a Supreme Audit Institution,
that has the role of a monitoring institution in this context, can fulfil this role in a way that is adapted to
its mandate on the one hand, and its limited resources on the other. At this Roundtable, France,
representing an ‘old’ and rather large EU member state and Hungary, representing a ‘new’ and rather
small EU member state will share their experiences. Whilst the French experience will be presented from
the perspective of an SAI, the Hungarian experience will be presented from the perspective of the fiscal
council and an engaged NGO. The Roundtable format will provide the opportunity to discuss concrete
Montenegrin questions in the light of these other countries’ experiences.
Objective
The objective of this workshop is to provide the Montenegrin SAI, the Ministry of Finance and the
Parliament with information about experiences of other countries’ SAIs in the monitoring of fiscal
responsibility criteria. This is mainly to gain an understanding about what the SAIs assess, how this is
done, why it is done this way and how, when and to whom they report. The Roundtable presentations
and discussions will also aim to engender a joint understanding among the main Montenegrin
stakeholders about the challenges that lay ahead.

3. 3
Thursday, 28 May 2015
09:00 Registration and Welcome coffee
09:30 Opening Welcome to the Roundtable
President of the Montenegrin State Audit Institution, Mr Milan Dabović, PhD
OECD/SIGMA, Ms Bianca Brétéché
09:45 The new law on budget and fiscal responsibility and its implications on the SAI of
Montenegro
Speaker: Mr Milan Dabović
This presentation offers some background information concerning the history of the new
law and the current state of affairs regarding the new task of the SAI in assessing and
reporting on fiscal responsibility criteria. It will highlight the current plans of the SAI and also
put forward the most relevant questions that the SAI wishes to discuss during this
Roundtable.
Followed by questions and answers
10:45 Coffee break
11:15 Reporting on the financial situation and outlook: The role and approach of the French
Court of Auditors
Speaker: Mr Christian Charpy, Court of Auditors, France
This presentation includes the history and current state of affairs concerning monitoring and
assessing the fiscal responsibility criteria by the French Court of Auditors (CoA). It will
highlight the way that the CoA has prepared and developed institutional capacity for the
task. It will explain the objective of the exercise of the SAI and the value it adds. The
presentation will also identify lessons learned and challenges ahead for the French CoA.
Followed by questions and answers
12:15 Lunch - buffet lunch provided by SIGMA in the hotel restaurant
13:45 The role of the SAI of Hungary in the monitoring of fiscal responsibility
Speaker: Mr Balázs Romhányi, Fiscal Responsibility Institute, Budapest
This presentation includes the history and current state of affairs concerning monitoring and
assessing the fiscal responsibility criteria of Hungary. It will highlight the strengths and
weaknesses of the Hungarian approach as perceived by external stakeholders. The
presentation will also identify lessons learned and the challenges ahead.
Followed by questions and answers
14:45 General discussion about lessons to be drawn from the experiences presented and the
way forward
Moderator: SIGMA
16:00 Closing of the Roundtable