PM Barzani stresses need to resolve issues with Baghdad

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Tuesday stressed the importance of resolving differences between Erbil and Baghdad on the basis of the constitution in separate meetings with Italian and British ambassadors to Iraq.

Barzani received Italian Ambassador to Iraq Maurizio Greganti and the two discussed bilateral relations between the Kurdistan Region and Italy as well as ongoing issues between Baghdad and Erbil over the Region’s financial entitlements within the budget law.

“Both parties emphasised the importance of resolving these matters, particularly concerning the financial entitlements of the Kurdistan Region and the salaries of its public sector employees, in accordance with the Iraqi constitution and budget law,” read a statement from Barzani’s office.

Last month, the Iraqi government agreed to loan 2.1 trillion Iraqi dinars to Erbil to cover salaries of civil servants for a period of three months.

The Kurdish premier also met with UK Ambassador to Iraq Stephen Hitchen, highlighting the necessity to safeguard the constitutional rights of the Kurdistan Region “as a federal entity.”

“We agreed that the problems are political and must be resolved within the framework of the constitution and agreements,” a statement from Barzani’s office noted.

Erbil and Baghdad have been at odds over several key issues for years, especially over oil and the Region’s allocation in the federal budget.

In February of last year, Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court deemed the KRG’s oil and gas law “unconstitutional”, to the dismay of the Kurdish government. The top court also ruled against the Kurdish parliament’s self-extension in May and declared that the term of the legislature had finished.

Barzani and other KRG officials have repeatedly questioned the constitutionality of the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court following the anti-Kurdistan Region rulings.