By Kazhan Abdullah Murad
For more than 12 years, the issue of salaries and budget of the Kurdistan Region is facing serious problems, Baghdad is trying to weaken the financial, political, military and economic resources of the Kurdistan Region, to remain the federal structure of the region only on the paper. Federal government policies towards the Kurdistan Region over the past 12 years reflect this fact.
The failure of the Baghdad government to send the salaries and budgets of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) employees can be indicated by several points of Baghdad’s policy, strategy and political view towards the Kurdistan Region, which we will briefly mention below:
First, the Baghdad government has insignificant authority to implement decisions as long as the parliament and the Federal Court can overturn decisions, especially those related to the Kurdistan Region. Or the Federal Court decides to pay salaries but the Ministry of Finance prevents the payment of salaries and send the appropriate budget that decided by Iraqi parliament itself
Second, consensus remains senseless when forming a government, and coalitions are useless. Events after 2019 have proved that there is no such thing as consensus and partnership, both because of the Shiite dominance in Iraqi political structure and due to Iran interference in the affairs of the Federal Court and other apparatus of government.
Third, any prime minister in Baghdad who does not belong to a winning list, cannot do anything for the Kurdistan Region. Adel Abdul Mahdi, Mustafa Kazemi and Mohammed Shaia Sudani are prominent examples.
Fourth, the Kurds should work to rewrite the law of the Federal Court of Iraq so that all decisions, especially those related to the dispute between the Kurdistan Region and Baghdad, are issued by consensus, otherwise the law will not be applicable.
Fifth, efforts must be taken by Kurdistan Region to issue the hydrocarbon law related to oil and gas sector. Until the oil and gas law is passed, the same problem will arise again for the Kurdistan region’s following financial years. In this regard, it is better for the Kurds to refrain from voting on any bill or decision issued from Iraqi parliament of federal government and link the condition of passing hydrocarbon law by consensus between both Kurdistan and Iraqi government.
Sixth, the current situation shows that the Kurds have not been able to form an alliance with the Sunnis, because the Sunni members of the federal government and in parliament have agreed with the Shiiates to make decisions on cutting off the salaries and budget of the Kurdistan Region.
Seventh, if the federal government and parliament of Baghdad does not comply with the oil and gas law, as long as the government of Mohammed Shaia Sudan is remain a short-term government and there is a possibility that Muqtada al-Sadr again protest participation in coming elections, so, it is important for the Kurds to rearrange their pressure cards on the Baghdad government, otherwise the situation will get worse gradually.