Amid skepticism between the Kurdistan Region and the center regarding the accuracy of the data sent for the salaries of employees in the region and disputes over oil, the governments of Baghdad and Erbil are preparing for a dialogue round, the first of its kind, after decisions by the Federal Supreme Court, which caused a political crisis between them after the Kurdistan Democratic Party announced the boycott of the parliamentary elections scheduled for June 10 next.
Today, Saturday, the President of the Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, arrived in the capital, Baghdad, to discuss the pending disputes between Baghdad and Erbil.
The Federal Court has taken several decisions that caused the crisis, including a decision for the Iraqi Electoral Commission to organize parliamentary elections in the Kurdistan Region and the cancellation of the Electoral Commission operating in the region since 2006, and reducing the number of parliament seats from 111 to 100, after ruling the unconstitutionality of the quota seats, as well as a decision to localize the region’s salaries, through which the financial affairs authority was withdrawn from the regional government and transferred directly to the Baghdad government, after it used to send them to the regional government for distribution.
The region’s presidency said in a statement today that during his visit, the President of the Kurdistan Region will meet with the Iraqi President Barham Salih, and the Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, and will participate in a meeting of the State Administration Coalition and the Coordination Framework.
The statement added that “During his meetings and discussions with Iraqi leaders and senior officials, President Nechirvan Barzani will discuss ways to resolve problems between Erbil and Baghdad, the political situation in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, and other issues.”
Informed sources had reported yesterday, Friday, that the President of the Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, will participate today in an extraordinary meeting of the State Administration Coalition in the presence of Al-Kadhimi and the rest of the leaders, indicating that the meeting will discuss political agreements and pending files between Baghdad and Kurdistan.
Former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi announced yesterday, Friday, mediation between the two main Kurdish parties, referring to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party to resolve the pending disputes.
The crisis reached its peak following the decisions of the Federal Court, and the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Masoud Barzani, accused the Federal Supreme Court in Iraq last week of “manipulating” the law of parliamentary elections in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq for “external agendas,” accusing it of seeking to “break” the Democratic Party, while refusing to implement its decisions, which he described as “unconstitutional.”
Oil constitutes a “fundamental contentious issue” between the federal government in Baghdad and the authorities of the Kurdistan Region, as Erbil sees that Baghdad seeks to lay its hands on the region’s oil wealth, while the federal government demands to have its say in managing the oil resources extracted from Kurdistan.
There are no official government statistics on the oil exported from the Kurdistan Region, but the Iraqi Oil Ministry published an analysis in May 2023, stating that the regional government committed “legal and procedural violations” in selling oil that caused significant losses.
The financial returns for the regional government constitute a percentage of no more than 80 percent as an average after deducting production costs (the cost of producing a barrel of oil), while the financial returns for the first and second licensing rounds (held by Baghdad) constitute from 94.5 to 96.5 percent, and the production cost is equivalent to four times the production cost in the licensing rounds of the federal Oil Ministry, according to the Oil Ministry.
Iraq exports an average of 3.3 million barrels of crude oil per day, and black gold constitutes more than 90 percent of Iraqi treasury resources
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