State budget and public  accounts

In a specific chapter entitled Procedures concerning public finances, the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly of the Republic cover the details of the parliamentary proceedings involving the Major Options of National Plans and reports on the execution of Plans, the State Budget, the General State Accounts and other public accounts.

The Major Options of the Plan are government economic policy instruments that set out the grounds for the strategic guidelines for the economic and social development policy. The Government must draw them up and submit them to the Assembly of the Republic in the shape of a government bill by 30 April, together with a report explaining the reasons for them.

The Stability and Growth Programme forms part of the Portuguese state’s obligations in the EU, particularly with regard to the Stability and Growth Pact. The Government submits the annual review of the Stability and Growth Programme to the Assembly of the Republic for consideration, before sending it to the Council and the European Commission. You can access both the Programme and the draft amendments to it.

The Government must submit the General State Accounts by 30 June of the year following the one to which they refer. They contain all the figures on the state’s revenues and expenditure. As part of its supervisory responsibilities, the Assembly of the Republic must consider and pass the General State Accounts by the following 31 December.

Only the Government can take the initiative to draw up the State Budget (OE) and submit it to the Assembly of the Republic. It must do this in the shape of a government bill, by 15 October each year. The debate on this initiative is subject to a special legislative procedure. You can access the text of the government bill, the charts, the sectoral documents and the State Budget Report submitted by the Ministry of Finance and the Public Administration. During the debate you can also access any draft amendments that have been submitted, both in the general principles phase and in the detailed discussion phase, as well as any votes that have taken place during the debate itself.