Iraq’s caretaker Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi’s office called on the finance ministry in mid-April to halt budget transfers to the KRG and take back all transfers made since January 1, 2019.
Eager to keep public sector workers on the payroll, the KRG delegation arrived in Baghdad late Tuesday to hash things out.
The delegation met Wednesday with US ambassador to Iraq, Matthew Tueller, and discussed the formation of the new Iraqi cabinet, as well as the matters of contention between Erbil and Baghdad, as well as COVID-19, according to a statement by the KRG.
Talabani told Tueller that the aim of their visit to Baghdad is to “end disputes between the [Kurdistan] Regional Government and the federal government, as per the Iraqi permanent constitution and [continue] previous understandings,” reads the KRG statement.
Talabani also said that Kurds will not prevent the formation of a new cabinet, but “be part of solutions that bring stability to Iraq.”
The delegation later met with Iraqi oil minister, Thamir Ghadhban, to discuss the disputed handover of 250,000 barrels of crude oil by the KRG to Baghdad, in return for Erbil’s share of the budget, as stipulated by Iraq’s 2019 budget law, said Rudaw reporter Halkawt Aziz at the scene.
Baghdad accuses the KRG of failing to send even a single barrel of oil in exchange for its share of the federal budget – an arrangement agreed in December.
Following their meeting with Iraqi government officials, the KRG delegation met with leaders from the Sadrist Movement, who voiced the need for continued talks between Erbil and Baghdad, and agreed that the Iraqi government should not withhold the KRG’s financial entitlements, according to a Facebook post by Azhe Omar, Talabni’s accompanying media team member.
As part of his visit to Baghdad, Talabani stopped at the office of Mohammed al-Halbousi, speaker of Iraqi Parliament, to discuss “mechanisms to resolve the impending issues between Erbil and Baghdad,” according to Omar.
Jotiar Adil, KRG spokesperson, said Wednesday that Erbil is committed to sending the oil if it is assured that the flow of money from Baghdad will not be disrupted.
The KRG “affirms that it is committed to its oil and financial responsibilities with the federal government, in return for the financial entitlements of the Region’s people set out in the framework agreed upon in December 2019,” reads a statement on the KRG Facebook page.
Erbil “has suggested some ideas for the resolution of issues, such as the passing of an oil and gas legislation based on the draft bill approved by both sides in 2007,” added the spokesperson.
This bill has been an outstanding issue between both governments, and they have failed to reach a final agreement to pass it at the parliament.
Now that a collapse in world oil prices is threatening Iraq with financial ruin, Baghdad appears to be running out of patience.
Mindful of the suffering Baghdad caused when it cut the KRG’s budget in 2014, Kurdistan Region’s President Nechirvan Barzani urged UNAMI chief Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert at a meeting on Tuesday to facilitate negotiations between the two governments.
“The president asked the UN Special Representative to mediate in resolving the ongoing dispute,” a statement by the presidency reads.
Baghdad is locked in a seemingly endless process of establishing a new government, a process which is currently led by Prime Minister-designate Mustafa Al-Kadhimi.
Kurdish leaders have already thrown their unanimous support behind Kadhimi, who will have a mandate to draft a new federal budget – if the Iraqi parliament approves his cabinet.
Iraq has not had a fully-functioning government since December, when mass protests led to the resignation of Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi after just a year in office. Since then, Shiite political parties have wrangled over who should replace him and form the new cabinet.
Kadhimi was appointed as PM-designate on April 9. He has a month to select his cabinet and present it before the Iraqi parliament.
With reporting by Zhelwan Z. Wali
