Parliament opens with Iraqiya present

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Iraqi Parliament’s Tuesday session was opened with the presence of legislatures from al-Iraqiya Bloc, following their boycott of the previous sessions, a Parliament media source reported. “The Parliament’s 16th session began on Tuesday, under the chairmanship of its Speaker, Usama al-Nujeify, with the attendance of al-Iraqiya Bloc‘s legislatures, who ended their boycott for the Parliament’s sessions,” the media source told IraqiNews.com news agency. The “session was held after the completion of the legal majority, with the attendance of 219 out of the Parliament’s 325 members,” the source added. The Parliament is scheduled to discuss in its today’s session the 2nd reading of the draft-law for the country’sGeneral Federal Budget for the fiscal year 2012, following complaints by several Parliament members on the need to discuss it at the beginning of the session. The Parliament’s session also includes the 2nd reading of the laws on the ratification of the Joint economic, trade and technical cooperation Agreement between Iraq and the the government of the United Kingdom and NorthIreland, along with the merger of the Socialist Bank with the Rafidain Bank and the Monitory and Banking Center, along with a number of other draft-laws.