The Parliament might vote on the budget bill without the Kurds, MP says
Shafaq News / 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 on the bill despite the Kurd MPs boycott.
A member of the committee, MP Thamer Theban, told Shafaq News Agency, "Until the moment, there is no agreement between Baghdad and Erbil regarding the share of the Kurdistan Region in the 2021 Budget bill,” suggesting, "it is possible to go to vote on the budget without the Kurds, like what happened with the borrowing law."
"Nevertheless, we do not want to venture in this direction," said Al-Fateh Alliance.
He added, "we are waiting for an agreement between Baghdad and Erbil regarding the region’s share in the next free days," indicating, "otherwise we will be compelled to vote on the budget without the Kurds."
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 However, the delegation, on its last visit, was informed that the agreement was no longer valid, even though it was stipulated in the Budget bill.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 salaries of the region’s employees. Kurdish MPs, in the act of protest, withdrew from the session, but the vote took place nevertheless.
