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Iraq
Iraqi parliament meeting to vote on the federal budget bill. Date: June 9, 2023. Photo: handout
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Disagreements over provisions in the federal budget, especially those detailing the Kurdistan Region’s share, meant the Iraqi parliament once again was unable to pass the bill in a midnight session.
The legislature met for the third time late on Friday to pass the controversial bill after dozens of meetings between parties and with the parliament presidency. Lawmakers passed six articles on Thursday. It briefly convened Friday afternoon, but did not pass anything. In a third session that stretched into early Saturday morning, they passed 18 articles.
Article Four, which authorised the government to reallocate unspent funds, was removed from the bill. The parliament gave a first reading to Article 14, which details managing Kurdistan Region’s oil income, but delayed a vote due to disagreements between Kurdish and Shiite lawmakers about a section that details the fate of the Kurdistan Region’s share of funds in case of an issue between Erbil and Baghdad.
Shakhawan Abdullah, deputy speaker of the Iraqi parliament, told Rudaw early Saturday morning that parliament was adjourned after Kurdish lawmakers refused to let the meeting continue without passing Article 14, fearing it would later be passed against their will if all other articles were passed. Parliament will reconvene late Saturday afternoon.
He said the Kurds accused Shiite lawmakers of failing to commit to a recent Erbil-Baghdad deal, but they had held several meetings to resolve the issue. The federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) signed a deal to export the Region’s oil following a ruling on a case between Iraq and Turkey that led to the suspension of Kurdish oil’s flow to global markets in late March. Oil exports are yet to resume despite the agreement.
Shiite blocs hold most of the seats in the 329-seat legislature. Kurds have about 60 seats but are divided.
“The draft, which was submitted by the government and upon which the KRG and the federal government had agreed, stipulates that if there is an issue between both sides, a joint committee would be formed to decide what caused the issue and the final decision would be made by the [Iraqi] prime minister,” said the deputy speaker, who is a Kurd.
He also said that Shiite parliamentarians wanted to amend this so that the KRG’s share would be suspended if the joint committee does not reach a solution within 15 days.
“The committee might not even meet in 15 days, so the Region’s share would be cut. This is an excuse to cut the budget. This allows them to suspend the Region’s share even if a trivial thing happens,” said Abdullah, who is a member of the Region’s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
He described Article 14 as “the soul of the budget.”
Another controversial section of the same article is a requirement that the KRG pay back 10 percent of the money it cut from its civil servants as part of austerity measures over the past several years. The KDP is among those opposed to this provision and Soran Omar, a lawmaker from the Kurdistan Justice Group (Komal), told Rudaw on Friday that this section was removed from Article 14.
The KRG argues that its share is not enough to pay back the money it owes civil servants and requested an increase. The parliament has already passed Article 12 which sets the Region’s share at 12.6 percent.
The budget, which covers the years 2023, 2024 and 2025, includes a record $152 billion in spending.
The Iraqi parliament also passed Article 13, which details exporting Kurdistan Region's oil in coordination with the Iraqi government and handover of its non-oil revenues to Baghdad.
There are also disputes between Sunnis and Shiites over the share of funds for the provinces with some complaining about how much money is allocated to their province.
The legislature met for the third time late on Friday to pass the controversial bill after dozens of meetings between parties and with the parliament presidency. Lawmakers passed six articles on Thursday. It briefly convened Friday afternoon, but did not pass anything. In a third session that stretched into early Saturday morning, they passed 18 articles.
Article Four, which authorised the government to reallocate unspent funds, was removed from the bill. The parliament gave a first reading to Article 14, which details managing Kurdistan Region’s oil income, but delayed a vote due to disagreements between Kurdish and Shiite lawmakers about a section that details the fate of the Kurdistan Region’s share of funds in case of an issue between Erbil and Baghdad.
Shakhawan Abdullah, deputy speaker of the Iraqi parliament, told Rudaw early Saturday morning that parliament was adjourned after Kurdish lawmakers refused to let the meeting continue without passing Article 14, fearing it would later be passed against their will if all other articles were passed. Parliament will reconvene late Saturday afternoon.
He said the Kurds accused Shiite lawmakers of failing to commit to a recent Erbil-Baghdad deal, but they had held several meetings to resolve the issue. The federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) signed a deal to export the Region’s oil following a ruling on a case between Iraq and Turkey that led to the suspension of Kurdish oil’s flow to global markets in late March. Oil exports are yet to resume despite the agreement.
Shiite blocs hold most of the seats in the 329-seat legislature. Kurds have about 60 seats but are divided.
“The draft, which was submitted by the government and upon which the KRG and the federal government had agreed, stipulates that if there is an issue between both sides, a joint committee would be formed to decide what caused the issue and the final decision would be made by the [Iraqi] prime minister,” said the deputy speaker, who is a Kurd.
He also said that Shiite parliamentarians wanted to amend this so that the KRG’s share would be suspended if the joint committee does not reach a solution within 15 days.
“The committee might not even meet in 15 days, so the Region’s share would be cut. This is an excuse to cut the budget. This allows them to suspend the Region’s share even if a trivial thing happens,” said Abdullah, who is a member of the Region’s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
He described Article 14 as “the soul of the budget.”
Another controversial section of the same article is a requirement that the KRG pay back 10 percent of the money it cut from its civil servants as part of austerity measures over the past several years. The KDP is among those opposed to this provision and Soran Omar, a lawmaker from the Kurdistan Justice Group (Komal), told Rudaw on Friday that this section was removed from Article 14.
The KRG argues that its share is not enough to pay back the money it owes civil servants and requested an increase. The parliament has already passed Article 12 which sets the Region’s share at 12.6 percent.
The budget, which covers the years 2023, 2024 and 2025, includes a record $152 billion in spending.
The Iraqi parliament also passed Article 13, which details exporting Kurdistan Region's oil in coordination with the Iraqi government and handover of its non-oil revenues to Baghdad.
There are also disputes between Sunnis and Shiites over the share of funds for the provinces with some complaining about how much money is allocated to their province.
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