Kurdish, Sunni MPs boycott Iraqi parliament session over budget dispute
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Iraqi parliament could not convene on Wednesday to discuss 2018 budget due to a boycott by Sunni and Kurdish factions, but could reconvene on Thursday if budgets and elections are not discussed, in addition to other preconditions set by the absentees.
“The parliament session was delayed because of Kurdish and Sunni lawmakers boycotting it. It is unclear when the session will resume,” Masoud Haider, an MP from Kurdistan in the finance committee, told Rudaw from Baghdad.
The parliament lacked a quorum, therefore delayed the session.
Haider, a member of the Change Movement (Gorran), also said that heads of factions and parliamentary committees, including members of finance committee were meeting with the parliament’s speaker in a bid to resolve the problem and respond to the demands of Kurdish and Sunni party MPs.
The heads of factions and committees later announced that they will agree hold a session on Thursday on two conditions: the budget and the question of elections should not be discussed at that time, and preparations have to made within a week for a meeting between Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, the Speaker of the Parliament, and heads of factions and committees.
“The Kurds have nine reservations about Iraq’s budget for 2018.” Haider told Rudaw, “No change has been made to address the nine points we had submitted to the Iraqi government.”
Main reservations by Kurdistan parties for the 2018 Iraqi federal budget:
- Restoring the Kurdistan Region’s share to its previous 17 percent
- Dealing with the KRG rather than provinces
- Determining a budget for Kurdish Peshmerga
- Naming the province of Halabja and determining its budget
- Dedicating petrodollar budget to all provinces with oil, gas or refineries
- Revoking the decision to reduce salaries of all Iraqi employees by 3.8 percent and giving it to Hashd al-Shaabi because war ISIS war has ended
- Reducing government's operating budget
“The Iraqi government gave us a calculated and elastic answer and made no change to address these points which we had demanded as parties of Kurdistan. That is why we will not be voting for the budget,” added Haider.
Abadi said on Tuesday he would refuse to allow the Iraqi parliament to change the KRG’s share of the 2018 budget. He insisted Erbil’s demand for 17 percent belongs in the past.
Erbil maintains that their revenues have been slashed by half since the loss of Kirkuk oil fields to the Iraqi government in mid-October, leaving the government with a net $337.4 million to spend on salaries after deducting for essential expenses and payments to international oil companies.
Baghdad is yet to agree to talks with Erbil over outstanding issues that worsened following an Iraqi military incursion into the disputed areas after the September vote for independence, despite many calls from the international community for the two sides to sit down and talk.
An IMF chief told Rudaw on December 22 that he believes Iraq's 2018 budget share proposals "do not suffice in our view to cover the needs of the Kurdistan Regional Government.”
Main reservations by Kurdistan parties for the 2018 Iraqi federal budget:
- Restoring the Kurdistan Region’s share to its previous 17 percent
- Dealing with the KRG rather than provinces
- Determining a budget for Kurdish Peshmerga
- Naming the province of Halabja and determining its budget
- Dedicating petrodollar budget to all provinces with oil, gas or refineries
- Revoking the decision to reduce salaries of all Iraqi employees by 3.8 percent and giving it to Hashd al-Shaabi because war ISIS war has ended
- Reducing government's operating budget
“The Iraqi government gave us a calculated and elastic answer and made no change to address these points which we had demanded as parties of Kurdistan. That is why we will not be voting for the budget,” added Haider.
Abadi said on Tuesday he would refuse to allow the Iraqi parliament to change the KRG’s share of the 2018 budget. He insisted Erbil’s demand for 17 percent belongs in the past.
The Iraqi prime minister added that the KRG exported 2 trillion Iraqi dinars ($1.6 billion) of oil over the last three months of 2017. He claimed that production expenses amounted to about 313 billion Iraqi dinars ($261 million), leaving Erbil with an income of 544 billion Iraqi dinars ($458 million) monthly.
Erbil maintains that their revenues have been slashed by half since the loss of Kirkuk oil fields to the Iraqi government in mid-October, leaving the government with a net $337.4 million to spend on salaries after deducting for essential expenses and payments to international oil companies.
Baghdad is yet to agree to talks with Erbil over outstanding issues that worsened following an Iraqi military incursion into the disputed areas after the September vote for independence, despite many calls from the international community for the two sides to sit down and talk.
An IMF chief told Rudaw on December 22 that he believes Iraq's 2018 budget share proposals "do not suffice in our view to cover the needs of the Kurdistan Regional Government.”
Updated at 2:53 p.m.