Under Article 110 of the Basic Law, the federal budget is a plan, the Haushaltsplan, and parliament enacts it as a law. The government may spend only money that parliament has approved in this way. If a new year begins before the budget law is passed, Article 111 applies. The government may then spend only what is needed to keep existing institutions running, to meet legal obligations, and to continue construction and purchases already funded in an earlier budget. This happens regularly in election years, when forming a new government takes time. After the governing coalition broke apart in November 2024, the budget for 2025 could not be passed in time. The Bundesrat approved the budget law for 2025 on 26 September 2025, with retroactive effect from 1 January 2025.