Parliamentary Finance is surprised by the government’s appeals to the budget and pledges to defend i

[size=52]Parliamentary Finance is surprised by the government’s appeals to the budget and pledges to defend its amendment[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad / Muhammed Sabah[/size]
[size=45]The Parliamentary Finance Committee is surprised that the government has submitted 10 appeals to the Federal Court with articles and paragraphs in the 2021 budget law, and confirms that it will defend its amendments. The government challenged articles related to ending the file of managing government positions in the agency, as well as imposing taxes on imported fuel.[/size]
[size=45]Ahmed Al-Saffar, the rapporteur of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, explained in a statement to (Al-Mada) that “the constitution allows the government to appeal before the Federal Court any article of the draft general budget law if it harms its financial policy,” stressing that it “has submitted ten appeals with multiple points and paragraphs.” in the budget law.[/size]
[size=45]The House of Representatives voted at the end of last March on the Federal General Budget Law for the Republic of Iraq for the year 2021, after amendments made by the Finance Committee to all articles and paragraphs of the budget law, which witnessed a reduction in its size.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Saffar expresses his astonishment “at the government’s appeal to the Finance Committee’s proposal that obligates the formation of an amputation fund and a dollar for the oil and gas-producing governorates,” adding that “among the contested articles is the paragraph that recommends increasing the purchase price of wheat, barley and rye from farmers to support agriculture.”[/size]
[size=45]The government believes that the Parliamentary Finance Committee has exceeded its powers by passing these proposals, which are considered interference in executive affairs. It also believes that these additions will change its financial policy that it has determined based on the articles of the law.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Saffar adds that “among the paragraphs that the government challenged regarding the governorate’s reconstruction plan and put it under the control of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, as well as the point regarding authorizing the governors to spend on specific aspects to bypass the routine.”[/size]
[size=45]The constitution restricts the House of Representatives in Article 62 when it defines its authority and does not make it absolute, as it grants it the procedure of transfers between chapters of the budget chapters and the reduction of the total amounts thereof, and it may, when necessary, suggest to the Council of Ministers an increase in total expenditures.[/size]
[size=45]The constitution also gives the legal basis for the government to challenge before the Federal Court to cancel and nullify the provisions added by Parliament to the budget law in accordance with the provisions of Article (13) of the Constitution as they are unconstitutional provisions.[/size]
[size=45]And the representative of the Kurdistan Democratic Party bloc in the House of Representatives continues that “one of the most prominent paragraphs that was challenged by the government before the Federal Court, is the tax that we imposed on imported fuel (the intent of adding this paragraph to encourage local industry), as well as the paragraph related to deciding the management of proxy positions. As for the ministries.[/size]
[size=45]In one of its meetings, the Cabinet authorized Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi to file appeals before the Federal Court on a number of articles of the Federal Budget Law for the year 2021, after discussing the amendments added by the House of Representatives.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Saffar believes that “the government considers the additions of the House of Representatives and the Finance Committee as an interference in its work,” adding that “in the event the court requests the submission of a regulation to defend these amendments, the Parliament and the Finance Committee will be ready and willing to submit this regulation.”[/size]
[size=45]Among the articles that the government has challenged is the reduction of the budget size by the Finance Committee from 164 trillion dinars to 130 trillion dinars, arguing that Parliament has no right to add or modify the paragraphs of the Federal Budget Law.[/size]
[size=45]Last February, the Parliamentary Finance Committee handed the government a copy of the budget law, and discussed the amendments with the Prime Minister and each of the Ministers of Finance, Planning, Oil, Housing, Construction, Municipalities and Works, and the Secretary General of the Council of Ministers.[/size]
[size=45]For his part, the appearance of Muhammad Salih, the financial advisor to the Prime Minister, confirms that “the government has challenged a number of different points and paragraphs in the Federal Budget Law,” noting that “there are detailed points added by the House of Representatives to the draft budget.”[/size]
[size=45]Among the amendments added by the Parliamentary Finance Committee to the budget law are reducing the budget of the three presidencies to 20 percent, stopping the disbursement of funds allocated for conferences, petty cash and hospitality in all ministries, and obliging the Council of Ministers to re-evaluate and negotiate with companies for oil licensing rounds and the Ministry of Electricity’s fuel.[/size]
[size=45]Saleh adds in a statement to (Al-Mada) that "these additions affected the government curriculum and its financial policy, and therefore it has the right to appeal before the Federal Court," adding that "the House of Representatives does not have the right to make amendments to the budget law without government approval." The House of Representatives rejected Article 20 of the special budget law related to the imposition of an income tax and a deduction on the salaries of employees and retirees, including deductions from the salaries of the three presidencies and special grades, and also deleted Article 38 on opening the door for investment in partnership between the public and private sectors, and on Article 42 of the budget law on projects Tourism, commercial and service articles, and Article 43 on the sale of real estate, and Article 47 on corporate assets, voted to delete them.[/size]
[size=45]He points out that "these additions sometimes generate a failure in the government's performance in implementing its financial policy, which collides with its prepared programs," noting that "recourse to the Federal Court to respond to these amendments is unconstitutional."[/size]
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