ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) called on Wednesday for the United Nations (UN) to join its talks with Baghdad as an observer, according to a KRG statement, following an agreement between the two governments on the federal budget bill for 2021.

The KRG held a cabinet meeting in Erbil on Wednesday to discuss its latest talks with Baghdad over its budget share and entitlements.

Prime minister Masrour Barzani “called on the United Nations to attend the discussions between the Kurdistan Region and the federal government as a third party, so that the rights and duties of each side are clear,” read the statement from the KRG.

Barzani did not elaborate on whether the KRG has yet directed such a request at the UN.

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, chief of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), said during a virtual meeting of the UN Security Council on November 24 that “The payment of public civil servants should be shielded from political disputes; they cannot and should not be collectively victimized. A solution is urgent, and political will to find a way out will – once more – prove essential.”

“It should be clear, however, that a Kurdish region public servant is not only a Kurdish region public servant: she or he is also an Iraqi citizen,” she added.

However, Barzani accused the Iraqi government of using budget issues as "a trump card against the people of Kurdistan Region.”

Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region Qubad Talabani said on Tuesday night that Erbil and Baghdad have reached a deal on Iraq’s Federal Budget Bill for the year 2021. “This budget bill keeps the common interest of all Iraqi people, including the people of Kurdistan Region.”

Talabani had been leading a KRG delegation to Baghdad which had met with several officials from the federal government and political leaders in the last two weeks.

Iraq's Council of Ministers voted to approve the Federal Budget Bill for 2021 in a meeting led by Iraqi prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi on Monday night.

The budget has been a point of contention between Erbil-Baghdad for several years, especially after the Kurdistan Region's decision to sell its oil through Turkey, and the Islamic State (ISIS) attack on Iraq in 2014.

Struggling to pay its civil servants, Baghdad decided to take out loans from the Central Bank of Iraq to pay its civil servants for the remaining months of 2020. The parliament passed Fiscal Deficit Coverage Bill on November 12.

The bill passed with a majority vote, despite a walkout staged by Kurdish MPs, who were angered that Erbil would be obliged to hand over an unspecified amount of oil in exchange for funds – a clause they claimed was not in the original bill.

The law allowed the Iraqi government to borrow 12 trillion Iraqi dinars ($10 billion) from the central bank.

KRG spokesperson Jotiar Adil told reporters on Wednesday that the KRG has shown its readiness to commit to the loans law, adding they have been promised their share.

“Parliament and the political parties have promised to specify and send the budget share and salaries of the Kurdistan Region’s civil servants from the loans law before the New Year. I hope they implement this promise.”

The KRG has not been able to pay its civil servants on time and in full for months since the collapse of oil prices, budget cuts by Baghdad, and the spread of coronavirus.

Rudaw