Approving the budget bill without the Kurds will exacerbate the crisis, MP says
Shafaq News / MP of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Jamal Mohammed Shakour, warned of attempts to pass the 2021 Budget bill in the Kurds' absence, deeming it as a constitutional breach that would cause problems in the country.
Shakour told Shafaq News agency, "Kurdistan is a constitutional region, and it must be treated according to the Iraqi constitution that grants the rights of all components and nationalities without marginalization or exclusion."
Shakour attributed the outstanding problems between the region and Baghdad to "obstructing the approval of the oil and gas law, which is a solution to most of the oil-related issues between Erbil and Baghdad," noting, "there are corrupt deals and illegal operations in the oil file that hinder the approval of the law."
Shakour added, "Iraq is going through major financial and military crises, which requires the participation of everyone to confront them. The marginalization of any component will not be in the interest of Iraq and will lead to exacerbating current crises and creating new ones", adding, "the regional government is keen to resolve the Erbil-Baghdad disputes through extensive discussions."
The Finance Committee in the Iraqi Parliament set a deadline for resolving the dispute between Baghdad and Erbil over the 2021 budget, hinting at the borrowing law scenario when the Parliament voted the bill despite the Kurd MPs boycott.
The regional government delegation agreed with the federal government on delivering 250,000 barrels of crude oil per day and half of the financial revenues generated from the border-crossings in exchange for Baghdad allocating 12.67% of the Federal budget to the Kurdistan Region after deducting the sovereign and governance expenditures. However, on its last visit, the delegation was informed that the agreement was no longer valid, even though it was stipulated in the Budget bill.
It is noteworthy that the Iraqi Parliament approved on June 24, 2020, the law on financing the fiscal deficit without considering the region's employees' salaries. In an act of protest, Kurdish MPs withdrew from the session, but the vote took place.
