Federal, KRG economic councils to hold first meeting on budget disputes

Shafaq News/ A delegation from Iraq’s Federal Ministerial Council for the Economy will arrive in Erbil on Saturday evening for a first meeting with the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Economic Council.

The delegation will be led by Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fuad Hussein, who also chairs the Federal Ministerial Council for the Economy.

The first joint meeting between the federal and KRG economic councils is set to take place on Sunday, with the participation of Kurdistan Prime Minister Masrour Barzani. The talks will span two days, focusing on resolving long-standing disputes over financial entitlements, the Kurdistan region’s share of the federal budget, and other constitutional rights.

On February 21, Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court issued two rulings with far-reaching consequences. The first decision shifted responsibility for paying Kurdistan Regional Government employees to the federal government and mandated that Erbil turn over "all oil and non-oil revenues" to Baghdad.

The second ruling reorganizes the structure of coming elections to the Kurdistan parliament. In doing so, it eliminated the legislature's 11 seats that are reserved for ethnic and religious minorities.

Over the past three decades, Iraq's Kurdistan region has enjoyed a high level of autonomy from the central government in Baghdad. Erbil used the broad latitude provided by the 2005 constitution to forge its own political and economic path. It made oil deals, elected its own parliament and cultivated relationships with foreign governments.

Since 2021, the court has issued rulings scrapping the Kurdistan region’s oil and gas law, removing the Sunni speaker of parliament from office, and derailing a Sadrist-led government formation attempt that would have shut out the Coordination Framework, a consortium of mainly Iran-backed Shiite political forces. As the court of last appeal, its decisions are final, leaving those on the losing end with little ability to respond.