The cabinet had to compose this with almost a third of its members absent due to sectarian boycotts. Still, this agreement was hatched with the full cooperation of the Kurdistan Regional Government, and seems demographically fair:
The net revenue, after deducting the expenses of the Federal Government for delivering its federal duties and funding any agreed strategic projects, will be shared between Kurdistan and the governorates not organized as regions. Kurdistan will receive 17% of the net revenue, and the balance will be used, according to the population distribution, to meet the needs of the governorates.
No guarantees, though, on whether the Oil Law will be approved by parliament. Nevertheless, it's the most important piece of legislation Iraq can pass in coming months, and deserves more attention stateside.
Even the Times, which juxtaposes its report on this development with a photograph of two kids performing a mock execution of a third, can't call up a more cynical quote than this:
Representatives of the Sunni bloc said that they were not opposed to the law, but that there were a number of aspects they wanted to discuss.
“We are astonished at the government’s rush to submit the law to Parliament,” said Salim Abdulla, a member of the Sunni bloc, known as Tawaffuk.
“We were waiting to finish with the constitutional amendments to make sure there is no contradiction between the oil law and the constitution,” he said. “We will not be an obstacle in the road of the law, but we have some comments and reservations.”
Pretty conciliatory by Sunni bloc standards, wouldn't you say? Dinars talk.