Al-Halbousi convened with the Shiite blocs seeking compromise over Article 11 of the Budget

Shafaq News/ The Iraqi Parliament Speaker, Muhammad al-Halbousi, and the first deputy Speaker, Hassan al-Kaabi, held a meeting with the Shiite blocs to seek a scope of compromise on Kurdistan's region share of the Federal Budget that is workable to pass the bill through.

The source told Shafaq News Agency, "the Presidium of the Parliament holds a meeting at the headquarters of Badr Organization in al-Jaderiya area downtown the capital, Baghdad, with the heads of the Shiite blocs to agree on the alternative text of Article 11 of the Federal Budget bill related to the share of the Kurdistan Region."

He explained, "Al-Halbousi, Al-Kaabi, and the heads of the Shiite blocs held a meeting to discuss the proposal of the Shiite blocs stipulating that the Kurdistan region must hand over 460,000 barrels per day instead of the government text of the budget bill which requires the delivery of 250,000 barrels."

The source added, "dialogues are ongoing to reduce the Shiite blocs' demand from 460,000 to less than 350,000 barrels."

The Kurdish blocs held a meeting earlier today, Friday, to discuss participating in the voting session on the 2021 budget bill.

An informed source told Shafaq News Agency," it was agreed during the meeting to attend the session and vote to pass the government text for Article 11 of the Budget Law related to the Kurdistan Region's share. Otherwise, these blocs will boycott the session."

For his part, Ali Hama Saleh, a member of the Kurdistan Region Parliament for the Change Bloc, called on the Kurdish blocs on Friday to accept the Shiite proposal regarding the region's share of the 2021 budget.

In a post on Facebook, he said, "This proposal made by the Shiite parties is not bad and preserves the region's share."

He added, "The region will still have 210 thousand barrels of oil to pay the oil companies' dues, and 250 thousand barrels per day will be delivered to SOMO."