Shafaq News / Masrour Barzani, the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, called on the Kurdish blocs in the Iraqi Parliament on Friday to handle the vote on the budget law project "with a sense of national responsibility."
In a tweet, Barzani said, "I hope that the Kurdish blocs will deal with the budget law project with a sense of national responsibility, to preserve the entity of the Kurdistan Region and its constitutional rights and financial dues, and to stand against any attempt to weaken the entity of the region."
The Iraqi Parliament had earlier voted on six items of the triennial federal budget law. The session was adjourned after several items were postponed for approval at a later date.
Earlier in the day, Mohsen Al-Mandalawi, the First Deputy Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, held an "important" meeting with several leaders of parliamentary blocs. This was part of efforts to reach an agreement among all political parties on the budget law.
Al-Mandalawi reaffirmed in a statement today, the legislative authority's intent to complete the voting on the items of the federal public budget for the next three years, meeting the rights and aspirations of the Iraqi people.
Meanwhile, a reporter for Shafaq News Agency stated that the Coordination Framework held in the Council of Representatives, attended by Speaker Mohammed Al-Halbousi, Fatah Alliance leader Hadi Al-Amiri, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, Kurdistan Democratic Party bloc leader Vian Sabri, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Bloc leader Herim Kamal Agha, Justice Minister Khaled Shawani, and Second Deputy Speaker Shakhwan Abdullah. They discussed some disagreements on budget law items, particularly concerning the Kurdistan Region's share.
The meeting took place in the office of the Badr parliamentary bloc inside the Council of Representatives and discussed the current dispute over items 13 and 14 relating to the Kurdistan Region in the budget law.
Karim Aliwi, a member of the Council of Representatives for the "Badr" bloc, told Shafaq News Agency that the meeting discussed differing points on some budget law items, aiming to resolve disputed points before the session to complete the vote on the budget law.