Executive-legislative relations in the budgeting process in the Czech Republic

The budget is the government's key policy document. Negotiations on the budget can be taken as a case study to analyse the bargaining process in legislative institutions, reflecting the various clashes between political and partial interests in parliament and in parliamentary committees. The distribution of political power in parliament is a crucial factor: if a minority cabinet is in power, coalition-building is a key issue in budget bargaining. In this context, the Act on the State Budget (which in many ways is the basic law relating to the functioning of the state and especially the state and public administration) is an example of the efforts made to achieve a broad consensus and political compromises, not only among coalition cabinet partners but also between the government coalition and the opposition.