From the 2026 budget audit
16 billion Ft for 'sectoral policies' — a budget that names a decision-maker, not a function.
A centrally held discretionary pool labelled 'government sectoral policies': real policy work belongs inside the line ministries, where it has a mandate and a budget to be tested against.
Roughly 3,700 Ft per taxpayer per year — 16,144.9 millió Ft allocated by Cabinet Office discretion to undefined policy activities across government.
What you see — and what you don't
The seen: a central fund from which the Cabinet Office can pay for policy work in any sector at any time, on its own judgement. The unseen: the same work, funded transparently inside the responsible ministry where it has a departmental mandate, a public appropriation, and an auditable output — which is how legitimate policy spending works.
Objection
"Cross-cutting policy work doesn't always fit neatly inside one ministry — a central fund gives flexibility."
Answer
The flexibility it gives is discretion without a mandate. Genuine cross-cutting policy work — tax reform, regulatory coordination, major infrastructure — is funded by dedicated appropriations that Parliament can scrutinise against an output. A 16-billion-Ft pool whose disbursement is decided ad hoc by the Cabinet Office is not flexibility; it is an administrative blank cheque. Any legitimate activity it currently funds can be absorbed by the relevant ministry at the relevant amount.
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The analyst's verdict
Government Sectoral Policies
Rationale
This is a discretionary chapter-managed appropriation labelled "government sectoral policies" — a heading that, like "priority social relations", describes a category of officeholder discretion rather than a defined state function with a measurable output. Genuine sectoral policy work — the analysis, drafting, and implementation of policy in a given domain — is properly carried out and funded within the line ministries responsible for those domains, where it is visible against a departmental mandate and a departmental budget. A separate, centrally-held 16,144.9 millió Ft pool for "sectoral policies" at the Cabinet Office is a discretionary fund: its defining feature is that the Cabinet Office decides, ad hoc, what it pays for. With no rights-protection content, no dependency chain at citizen scale, and no contractual counterparties to protect, it is an Immediate Cut on principle. Any genuine policy activity it currently funds belongs in, and can be absorbed by, the relevant ministry's own appropriation. The year-1 saving is 16,144.9 millió Ft.
Transition mechanism
Immediate Cut. Any genuine sectoral policy activity currently funded through this pool is absorbed by the relevant line ministry's own appropriation at no additional cost. No multi-year transition schedule applies.
Affected groups
Cabinet Office officeholders and staff who administer the discretionary sectoral policy fund; contractors and organisations that receive funding through it. Any genuine policy activity migrates to the responsible line ministry.
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