The CNMC criticizes that Ribera establishes by law the structure of the super energy regulator and asks for more internal freedom

Paula María Madrid

Madrid

Updated Friday, March 22, 2024-16:50

It seemed impossible, but the Minister for the Ecological Transition,

Teresa Ribera

, has managed to satisfy the entire spectrum of the energy sector with her project to divide the

National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC)

and resurrect the sectoral regulator that was swallowed up in 2013. Judging by the report that the body chaired by

Cani Fernández

has published today on the new supervisor's draft law, even the

number one

of the Commission has buried the hatchet against a division that was not, precisely, a saint of his devotion. Of course, the CNMC has criticized that the ministry has established by law the structure of the future National Energy Commission (CNE).

In practice, Ribera's draft for the CNE does not substantially modify any of the powers already exercised by the CNMC, although it does modify its structure. And that is where the CNMC has emphasized the criticism. "The establishment of a detailed structure in a norm with the rank of law implies a

freezing

of this that prevents

its

evolution and adaptation to a context of very dynamic and changing energy markets," says the report.

Next, the supervisor emphasizes that the ministry's text also does not enable "mechanisms that allow its modification by lower-ranking regulations." In short, it represents a

regulatory corset

so that an independent authority can reorganize itself internally as it sees fit.

The Plenary Session of the CNMC, therefore, requires the Government to imitate the model of the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) in the future energy super-regulator. In the founding rule of the institution chaired by Rodrigo Buenaventura, it is established that the Board of the stock market supervisor itself determines the organic structure of the CNMV, without contemplating an initial structure.

The CNMC report has echoed the historic crusade of the Senior Overseer of the Kingdom for its lack of resources. Although they recognize that the CNE draft partially improves this aspect, they stress that the problem is not resolved, given that the ministry's text practically "replicates the CNMC model." They demand, therefore, increasing the financial and budgetary autonomy of the future regulator and ask that the Energy Commission be able to participate, hand in hand with the Executive, in the regulatory processes that aim to assign new functions.