ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The contentious Iraqi budget has now been approved by the Iraqi presidency and sent to Iraq’s official state gazette to be written into law, an Iraqi presidency press conference announced Thursday. “The topic has been concluded now. It [the budget] was sent to al-Waqa’i‘ al-‘Iraqiyah for publication. It was received by the Department of al-Waqa’i‘ al-‘Iraqiyah of the Ministry of Justice today. It will be published in the upcoming days. It has become an enacted law,” Munif al-Shammary, the head of presidency’s legal department, told journalists. Al-Waqa’i‘ al-‘Iraqiyah is the official state gazette, which began publishing in 1922. It is where all legislation, instructions and laws are published. The budget bill, fiercely opposed by Kurds and at times by Sunnis, was sent back to the Iraqi parliament by the Iraqi president on March 13, as it was seen to contain legal and constitutional violations. Iraqi President Fuad Masum, a Kurd, had concerns about a lack of direct funding for the Peshmerga salaries, among 31 constitutional, legal, and financial violations. “The return of the budget came after legal and financial experts and consultants studied and examined it in detail to specify the most important constitutional, legal and financial violations of some articles, items or paragraphs which must be resolved before approval and any irregularities with their form [must] be fixed,” read a statement from Masum’s office at the time. Earlier this week, without any notable changes, the parliament sent the budget back to the presidency for approval. Since the president is considered the guardian of the Iraqi constitution, his approval is necessary for it to become law. “In terms of legality and the constitution, it has become a law now. The topic of rectifying the constitutional and legal violations, this is a later procedure,” Shammary added. Amir Kinani, the presidency’s legal counselor, criticized MPs in the Iraqi parliament and accused them of being too busy campaigning for the upcoming elections to prepare robust legislation. “When we spot a constitutional violation, we counter it. Unfortunately the legislations lately were not very robust,” Kinani said, accusing the parliament of taking too long to send the budget. The new budget levies 14 new taxes on the people, including a 200 percent price hike on alcoholic beverages. The Iraqi budget was passed by a majority of Sunni and Shiite blocs. KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said at the time that the combined vote of these groups ran against the national “partnership” that the new Iraq was supposed to be founded on. The KRG has been allocated funds that cannot meet its financial needs, both according to KRG officials and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The share of the budget given to the Kurdistan Region was based on the proportion of Kurds in the Iraqi population, estimated by Baghdad to be 12.67 percent. As there has not been a national census since 1987, Kurds believe the share is inaccurate and unfair. Kurdish MPs have not been willing to accept anything less than a 17 percent share, as was standard prior to 2014.
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