La loi organique relative aux lois de finances (LOLF) dans l'histoire des grands textes budgétaires : continuité et innovation

Abstract

<titre>The LOLF in the History of Landmark Budgetary Texts&#160;: Continuity and Innovation </titre> The LOLF represents a complete rewriting of budgetary law, and has brought about deep changes in the budgetary system of the state. The object of this article is to situate it in the history of landmark texts that have organized the budgetary system of the state, to show both how it fits into a context of continuity and in what ways it is original. The author points out that budgetary law is fundamentally political and naturally economic, and shows that the LOLF has been remarkably innovative on these two levels. Politically, it contributes to a return of parliamentary power in matters dealing with public finance. Parliament is better informed and its supervisory functions enhanced, forcing the government to be more rigorous in its management. On the economic level, the LOLF reflects three periods of time, each of which has given a priority function to financial law without suppressing previous functions, thus giving the LOLF its layered aspect and its complexity. Although the LOLF reinforces the legal aspect of the budget, its judicial framework, and although it remains &#8211; despite disillusions &#8211; at the service of economic policy, it is more marked by the idea that the state is an economic agent which must respect basic economic laws, in particular by proving its efficiency, and therefore by applying management and accounting methods.