The Energy Reform initiative that President López Obrador sent to the Chamber of Deputies is a litmus test for the PRI and for the legislative alliance of Va por México.
The proposal strengthens the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), dismantles the regulatory structure with the disappearance of the Energy Regulatory Commission and the National Hydrocarbons Commission, removes incentives for investment in clean energy and affects the environment and contravenes the Paris Agreement , in other aspects.
To a large extent it comes from what is stated in the Electricity Industry Law that was recently approved, but which is suspended by the Judicial Power, due to the accumulation of constitutional violations.
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In the reform of articles 25, 27 and 28 of the Constitution, which is under discussion, it is guaranteed that the CFE controls 54 percent of electricity generation in the market.
The initiative overturns what was approved in the context of the Pact for Mexico and would cancel one of the most momentous reforms of Enrique Peña Nieto’s presidential term.
In theory, the PRI should vote to defend what they supported in the past and enthusiastically. So did those who were and are legislators today, such as the party’s leader, Alejandro Moreno Cárdenas.
However, not everything is so simple, because in the PRI there are currents whose devotion to statism is only surpassed by their submission to the presidential power. That is, a part of the PRI communes with President López Obrador and does not feel badly supported Morena.
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The problem is that, in the search for the vote, particularly in the intermediate race, they promised to support the Va for Mexico alliance and avoid the various changes to the Constitution that the head of the Executive had been announcing.
Eyes are on the PRI and not on the other members of the agreement – the PAN and the PRD – because experience shows that the once dominant party tends to negotiate with whoever has power, for better and for worse.
In the immediate term, the PRI announced the holding of forums with experts to have a full idea of the implications that the proposed electricity reform would have. Deep down they know the answer and also that no decision will come from there, but from the political evaluation they make between the cost and the benefit of giving Morena the constitutional majority. The delicate thing is that they risk their future, because this time what they do will have an impact on the confidence of those who voted for them, but also on their viability to survive alone.
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