The Iraqi Kurdistan Region President, Nechirvan Barzani, slammed on Sunday the passage of an emergency spending bill by the Iraqi parliament without the approval of Kurdish lawmakers, as political failure and an effort to “punish” citizens of the autonomous region.
He asserted the need to find an agreement to help stabilize the situation in Iraq.
On Thursday morning, Iraqi lawmakers passed the law with a majority of its members in the absence of representatives from the Kurdistan Region, who boycotted the session over disagreements about a clause that Kurdish lawmakers described as “unfair” for the autonomous region’s share of the federal budget.
“We view this as a dangerous development,” Barzani said during a press conference held after a meeting among top Kurdistan Region officials.
Barzani asked Iraqi politicians, rhetorically, “is the Kurdistan Region part of Iraq or not? Are the region’s employees a part of Iraq’s employees?”
Barzani added that unresolved outstanding issues between Erbil and Baghdad “will hamper stability in Iraq.”
“Our message to Iraqi political forces is that the Kurdistan Region is ready to agree with Baghdad on oil and all other issues.”
A previous deal between Baghdad and Erbil stipulated that the federal government would send the regional government 320 billion Iraqi dinars for three months.
The president asserted that approving the bill “is in direct opposition to all the principles on which we built Iraq after 2003.”
“Iraq’s problems are not dealt with in this way, even if some parties in the Iraqi parliament have the power to pass such laws.”
“We are ready to agree on all oil imports and all the other files, and we will present all these facts to Parliament.”
He noted that a Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) delegation would visit Baghdad soon for bilateral talks.
