The US did not rely on protections and invoked the T-MEC in energy

The United States government has requested the start of the procedure that would lead to an energy panel against Mexico because it sees no guarantees that the damages against US companies will prosper through injunctions, while the Energy Secretariat opposes reversing the recent changes in the sector.

On the one hand, the United States Department of Commerce affirmed that it is not certain that the existing protections that stop the energy reforms will be maintained.

On the other hand, the former Secretary of the Economy, Tatiana Clouthier, revealed in an interview with Enrique Galván Ochoa, of La Jornada, that the Secretary of Energy, Rocío Nahle, has complicated the negotiations to advance an agreement that avoids a settlement panel of differences due to energy policies of Mexico under the Treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC).

“Tatiana told me that the position of the Secretary of Energy, Rocío Nahle, is not to compromise, which makes an understanding difficult. ‘She does not want to give in to anything,’ she said, ”wrote Galván Ochoa.

Although President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s decree modifying Mexico’s electricity industry was initially suspended by court order, and declared unconstitutional shortly after its publication, the final decision had to be made in April 2022 by the Supreme Court. of Justice of the Nation, where it did not obtain the majority necessary to annul the decree. In turn, since April, several affected companies have filed appeals against the Decree.

The Department of Commerce indicated that at least two injunctions have resulted in the general prevention of the application of significant sections of the decree.

However, he added, the López Obrador administration has overcome similar environmental injunctions filed against the Tren Maya railway after declaring that the project is in “matter of national security.”

It is not certain that the existing protections that stop the energy reforms will be maintained, ”concluded the Department of Commerce.

President López Obrador’s decree modifying the Mexican Electric Industry includes the following objectives: modify the electricity dispatch system to favor the generation of energy from the plants of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE); and grant permits in accordance with the planning criteria of the National Electric System, which are established by the Ministry of Energy.

The decree also has the purpose of establishing that the granting of Clean Energy Certificates (CEL) will not depend on the ownership or date of commercial operation of the power generation plants; eliminate the obligation of the CFE’s Basic Electricity Service to buy electricity in auctions; and review the legacy and profitability of government commitments to power capacity contracts.

In his interview with Galván Ochoa, Clouthier also declared: “I no longer added, as I said in my resignation, a pack surrounds the President and does not allow the projects to advance, they bring him lies. In addition, they are all involved in the presidential succession.”

roberto.morales@eleconomista.mx