High-risk day for Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador: The Chamber of Deputies on Sunday began considering a constitutional reform aimed at reaffirming the state’s role in managing electric energy, a measure opposed by the United States and the opposition.
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“With a quorum of 488 MPs (out of 500, ed.) the plenary began the session,” the chamber’s social communications department told AFP. The qualified two-thirds majority vote could take place Sunday evening or overnight, with dozens of MPs following each other on the podium.
This draft constitutional amendment would reverse the liberalization of the electricity sector in 2013 and guarantee the public company, the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), 54% of the market, up from 38% today, and 46% for the private sector and foreign companies.
The US denounces a risk to the environment and to the billions in private investments by American companies in Mexico. US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar said approving the reform could lead to “endless litigation” under the Mexico-US-Canada Free Trade Agreement. Spain also fears the consequences for its private companies in the Mexican market, such as Iberdrola.
“Loots of Imperialism”
We will vote for this reform, which guarantees cheaper energy tariffs. We will defend our sovereignty! opened the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Sergio Gutierrez Luna. He accused the opposition of wanting to remain “lackeys of imperialism” in the service of foreign companies and addressed reform protests near the chamber.
However, the head of state does not have a qualified majority for the adoption of this emblematic reform of his mandate, against the three main opposition parties who have announced that they will vote against it. His party and its allies have just 277 MPs, a far cry from the 325 they need (the two-thirds majority of MPs present on Sunday). “It will be the first time that we reject a constitutional (revision) proposal by a president,” a source close to PRD (left, opposition) parliamentary coordinator Luis Espinosa Cházaro told AFP.
The Mexican President has put the scope of a possible rejection of his proposal into perspective. “If there’s treason, we’re already protected,” he said, alluding to a recent Supreme Court ruling. This past week has validated a law that strengthens the role of the CFE. The law was passed by Parliament in 2021 with a simple majority.