On Monday, business chamber Consejo Coordinador Empresarial (CCE) said the government was “using nationalism as a pretext to go against the rule of law.”ĬCE called the counter reform “an attack on a system that has taken us many years to create and on the legal precepts that protect us against arbitrariness and authoritarianism.” It also called for “respectful dialogue” and not “provocation and polarization.” The business sector in Mexico remains firmly opposed to the proposed changes.
Press reports indicate that Morena lower house members may seek to get the bill to a vote by December. Mexico’s courts have blocked previous attempts by the executive branch to change rules in the energy sector. “Moreover, he will be unwilling to alter the core of the reform, all of which means that it remains unlikely that the reform will be approved.”įor the reform proposal to pass, López Obrador’s Morena party would need to pick up 53 votes from opposition legislators in the lower house, and at least 10 in the Senate.
“López Obrador will try to have the bill voted earlier and pressure legislators from his party and opposition to vote on the bill this year,” the Eurasia analysts said. Legislators also “seem to favor a broad debate before the reform is voted on.” Open discussion sessions on the bill simultaneously in the lower house and the senate are expected to last until at least mid-November. These complications include the need to push through next year’s budget. “President López Obrador’s first legislative priority of the second half of his tenure appears increasingly unlikely to be voted on in the remainder of the year due to several political and procedural difficulties.” The electric sector reform “will likely face lengthy debate,” said analysts at political risk agency Eurasia Group. Independent power grid operator Centro Nacional del Control de Energía (CENACE) would be absorbed by state-owned power company Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), while CFE would win a mandate to supply 54% of electricity generated in the country. It also would eliminate midstream, downstream and electricity regulator Comisión Reguladora de Energía (CRE). The reform, if passed, would modify the constitution to eliminate upstream oil and gas regulator Comisión Nacional de Hidrocarburos (CNH).