Yesterday, during the discussion of the opinion of the electrical reform in the session of the joint commissions of Constitutional and Energy Points, of the Chamber of Deputies, the president of the former, who led the session, made a presentation on the content of said document , clearly highlighting one of the central intentions of the electricity reform proposed by President López Obrador: “…the new constitutional legal nature that is proposed for what is still a productive company today and what is proposed to become be once again a public body through which the state would lead the national electricity system. I am referring, of course, to the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE)…”.
Although we already knew it, we must not overlook the fact that in the few minutes that the president of the Constitutional Points Commission used to explain the content of the opinion, an express reference to the intention of the current administration to convert the CFE not only in a company that participates in the electricity market, with all the legal advantages that the reform would grant it, but beyond that, that at the same time is a company, a regulatory body of the electricity market and an organization dedicated to the design and instrumentation of public policies linked to the electricity market, if after such a reform is approved we can call it a market.
That atypical and pernicious nature will end up devouring the dreams of greatness of the 4T for the electricity sector. These are functions that in modern societies have been fully proven that they must be in different entities, so that public policy decisions are not adopted based on the operating vices of what is supposed to be an efficient company, but instead hands of the state it never will be. Or, so that the regulatory decisions that will affect not only the CFE but also its limited competitors, are built with the idea of not damaging the control it exercises over the weakened competitors.
Making a comparison with the telecommunications sector, it is as if the IFT disappeared so that the functions of regulator would be assumed by América Móvil (AMX). The first thing it would do, for example, would be to authorize higher interconnection rates to be charged to competitors so that they could use parts of the AMX network, or it would assign the best allocation of radio spectrum frequencies for 5G services to gain an advantage over others. participants, and already entered into its role as a kind regulator, the television service would be authorized, to finish controlling the entire telecommunications sector. The result would be disastrous not only for the telecommunications sector, but also for the entire country and its competitiveness, and notably for the well-being of Mexicans.
Of that size is the nonsense of the 4T with the future of the electricity sector in our country, but worse still, with the future and well-being of millions of Mexican families who aspire to live better, in a more competitive and equitable country for all.
The president of the Constitutional Points commission also explained that the opinion makes an analysis with which “it finds sufficient arguments to affirm that the constitutional modification is in accordance with international treaties, particularly with the main one” referring to the T-MEC of course. We should not be surprised by the lightness with which Mexico’s commitments in that trade agreement are analyzed, but there is no doubt that the reform would cause Mexico to violate not one, but several commitments contained in the text of the agreement. The formal warning of this was already communicated to the Secretary of the Economy, Tatiana Clouthier, by Katherine Tai, head of the USTR of the United States, whom President López Obrador lightly disqualified in a recent “morning.”
But even with all the supposed certainties that they claim to have, the 4T deputies had no choice but to seek to postpone the discussion of the opinion in plenary for next Sunday the 17th. They don’t have the votes to pass it. For this reason, stumbling blocks are becoming more and more frequent.
*The author is an economist.
@GerardoFloresR
telecommunications expert
Economic Momentum