Escalation between Erbil and Baghdad... an economic dispute with political imprints

 In a new blow to the Kurdistan Democratic Party from the Federal Court in Iraq within a week, the court declared the oil and gas law in the government of Southern Kurdistan unconstitutional, and this comes after it excluded the Kurdistan Democratic candidate Hoshyar Zebari from the presidential race, who was excluded from his position as Minister of Finance, as a result of his corruption.

 On the 15th of February, the Federal Court of Iraq issued a ruling that the oil and gas law in Southern Kurdistan was unconstitutional for violating the Federal Constitution.

 A statement by the Federal Court stated that it "issued its decision on Case 59 / Federal / 2012, and its consolidated 110 / Federal / 2019 on 15/2/2022, which includes the ruling on the unconstitutionality of the Oil and Gas Law of the Kurdistan Regional Government No. (22) of 2007 and its cancellation for violating the provisions of Articles (110).  and 111, 112, 115, 121 and 130) of the Constitution of the Republic of Iraq for the year 2005.

 He explained that "the regional government was obligated to hand over the entire oil production from the oil fields in the Kurdistan region and other areas from which the Ministry of Natural Resources in the Kurdistan Regional Government extracted oil to the federal government represented by the Federal Ministry of Oil, and to enable it to use its constitutional powers regarding oil exploration, extraction and export, and to the Ministry of  Oil has the right to follow up on the invalidity of the oil contracts concluded by the Kurdistan Regional Government with external parties, countries and companies regarding oil exploration, extraction, export and sale.

 Accordingly, the Kurdistan Regional Government will be “obligated to enable the Iraqi Ministry of Oil and the Federal Financial Supervision Bureau to review all oil contracts concluded with the Kurdistan Regional Government, regarding the export and sale of oil and gas for the purpose of auditing and determining the financial rights owed by the Kurdistan Regional Government as a result of it, and that the region’s share be determined.”  From the general budget and in a manner that guarantees the delivery of the rights of the citizens of the governorates of the Kurdistan region from the federal general budget and not to delay it and notify the federal government and the Federal Office of Financial Supervision of that.”

 The KRG considered, in a statement, that the Supreme Court's decision is "unfair and unconstitutional", stressing that it will take "all constitutional, legal and judicial measures to ensure and protect all contracts concluded in the field of oil and gas."

 A decision that complies with the Iraqi constitution

 Commenting on this, the researcher in political and economic affairs, Nabil Jabbar Al-Ali, said in a statement to our agency: "The recent Federal Court decision regarding the illegality of the (oil and gas law) legislated and enforced in the Kurdistan region is in accordance with the Iraqi constitution, as well as with the annual budget laws.  which requires periodically handing over oil revenues from the sale of Kurdistan’s oil to the central government as a condition for the center to fulfill the region’s rights from public resources.”

 Hawler uniquely used resources

 The dispute over the oil file between Baghdad and Erbil dates back to 2007, when the government of Başûr which is dominated by the Kurdistan Democratic Party, began developing oil fields in its three provinces, which met with great opposition from the federal government, after it concluded dozens of agreements with oil companies  and its implementation of pipelines to export oil through Turkish territory.

 Iraq's exports, which is the second largest oil exporter in the Organization of "OPEC", amount to about 3.5 million barrels per day, and its financial imports represent 90 percent of the country's budget.

 The government of Başûr had pledged to deliver 250 thousand barrels of its daily production, which exceeds 400 thousand barrels, to the central government through the Ministry of Oil, in exchange for receiving the salaries of officials, employees and Peshmerga fighters.

 Regarding the differences between the central government and the government of Başûr, the Iraqi researcher said: “The constitutional articles clearly state that public resources, especially oil resources, are centrally managed, but the Kurdistan region may be unique in using resources and withholding even data and information about the nature of oil contracts and financial revenue.

 The government of Southern Kurdistan exports oil independently from Baghdad via a line heading to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean, and from there to international markets.

 The government of Southern Kurdistan continues to export oil abroad, with the exception of the Kirkuk fields, which have been suspended since October 2017, after Iraqi forces regained control of them.

 The government of southern Kurdistan, which is dominated by the Kurdistan Democratic Party, concluded contracts with major international oil companies - including Exxon Mobil, Rosneft and Genel - to develop its oil fields, which pump about 500,000 barrels per day.

 Political pressure on the Kurdistan Democratic Party

 This decision cannot be isolated from the situation that Iraq is witnessing from a political blockage and incompatibility with the election of the President of the Republic, in light of the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s insistence on obtaining this position, even though the strategic alliance between it and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan requires the latter to obtain the position of President of the Republic, while the Democratic  Kurdistan for the position of President of the Government of Southern Kurdistan.

 The dispute between Hawler and Baghdad over oil is old, but the timing of this decision draws attention to the political differences between all the forces in Iraq, as many observers said that this decision bears a political imprint to put pressure on the Kurdistan Democratic Party, and put pressure on the political alliance between the Sadrist movement and the Democratic  Kurdistan and the Alliance of Sovereignty (Al-Khanjar and Al-Halbousi).

 It is noted that the two lawsuits submitted to the Federal Court, the first of them filed in the name of the Federal Minister of Oil, date back to 2012. The other dates back to 2019. Both are filed against the Minister of Natural Resources in Başûr (South Kurdistan) for his failure to fulfill the federal government’s delivery of the oil quota assigned to it.

 On the connection of the Federal Court’s decision at this time with the political blockage in the country, Al-Ali believes that “the time in which the lawsuit was filed in the Federal Court represents a political pressure factor that one of the parties used to pressure the Kurdish parties, foremost of which is the (Kurdistan Democratic Party) aligned in a coalition with Al-Sadr and an alliance  Sovereignty (Al-Khanjar and Al-Halbousi)".

 He added: "The lawsuit can be described as a preliminary review of the opposition's capabilities if the coordination framework is excluded and pushed towards the opposition and not participating in the next government."

 As for the purpose of this decision, Al-Ali said: “The lawsuit was filed by one of the current members of the Iraqi parliament among the winners within the Al-Hikma coalition or stream that is affiliated with Mr. Ammar Al-Hakim, and this lawsuit represented a transition in the nature of relations between Al-Hakim and Barzani, which has always been close and strategic  ".

 On the Iranian role in this decision, the Iraqi researcher clarified that it is not known if Iran had a role in this political pressure factor.

 Al-Sadr supports the court's decision

 The Sadrist bloc commented on the recent Federal Court decision regarding the unconstitutionality of the Oil and Gas Law in the Government of Southern Kurdistan, and stressed that the decisions of the Federal Court are binding on all parties.

 The bloc stated in a press conference, that "the decisions of the Federal Court are binding on all parties."

 On the position of the Sadrist movement allied with the Kurdistan Democratic Party on the court’s decision, Al-Ali indicated that “the Sadrist movement supported the decision of the Federal Court regarding the illegality of the oil and gas law in Kurdistan, even other Kurdish parties have supported this decision and called for dialogues between the center and Hawler to solve this problem.  big and important."

 Political bullying of opponents

 The KDP owns the bounties of Southern Kurdistan, and Nechirvan and Masrour Barzani, who are cousins of the same family, hold the presidency and prime ministerial positions, with armed forces outside the rule of law.  They took large sums of money from southern Kurdistan to European banks and used them for their own welfare. They also seized the region's oil.

 The government of Southern Kurdistan sells 500,000 barrels of oil per day! However, the standard of living of the people is very deteriorating.

 Corruption has spread widely in the successive governments of Southern Kurdistan, which are controlled by the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

 Despite the many corruption files of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, even the leader of the party, Hoshyar Zebari, was withdrawn confidence from him on September 21, 2016 when he was Minister of Finance in the government of Haider al-Abadi. However, the Sadrist movement, which calls for a national majority government and says that it is fighting corruption, has allied with  Kurdistan Democratic Party.

 So, what is the difference between the government that al-Sadr calls for and the previous governments that condoned corruption and the exploitation of Iraq's resources in the service of political parties.

 In this context, Al-Ali says: “According to the equations of the current alliances, the calls to form a national majority government are no longer of great national importance. The situation today can be expressed as coalitions of political bullying over opponents, and the exclusion and exclusion of opponents. The current political negotiations and rapprochements cannot be described as  Nationality due to the absence of political programs on which the blocs rely in their rapprochement. Today's rapprochements are to remove the qualitative competitor and seize the positions assigned to each component.

 What are the chest options?

 Regarding the Sadrist movement's options, the researcher in political and economic affairs, Nabil Jabbar Al-Ali, concludes his speech, that "Mr. Al-Sadr's choices remain unknown and unexpected, and his public positions may be affected by changing public opinion trends, especially social media."

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