AMLO Discusses Dissolving CRE, CNH

President López Obrador has once again mentioned his intentions to dissolve various autonomous bodies, including CRE and CNH. The president has made austerity and the rescue of state-owned enterprises a central part of his policy. While discussing government strategies for public finances, the president stated that instead of increasing tax collections, he seeks cuts to autonomous bodies that "serve the interests of a few."

"That [dissolving autonomous bodies] is another legislative initiative I want to send: dismantling all that apparatus created parallel to the government to control all decisions of public power: the Institute of Transparency, the Institute of Communications, the Institute of Competition, the CRE, [among others]," said the president.

"We have to carry out an administrative reform; all these supposedly autonomous bodies have to disappear. They are supposedly autonomous because they do not serve the people; they are in the service of minorities. Every time we want to defend PEMEX, every time we want to defend CFE, this competition institute comes out to defend private interests. The function of any government is to ensure collective well-being, the well-being of the people, not groups. That is oligarchy, not democracy," he added.

This is not the first time the president has made such comments and mentioned his intentions to get rid of autonomous bodies. According to experts, these comments are more about threats or boasts to clarify and position his rhetoric more strongly in favor of state-owned enterprises and against private entities in general.

"So, what is behind the latest bluff? I think the president gave us the answer directly in his press conference. He wants to be on record opposing the regulatory architecture that, in his view, was not created to protect the state’s interests," said Energy Expert Gonzalo Monroy to Natural Gas Intelligence. López Obrador had already sent legislators a proposed energy reform that would terminate CRE and upstream regulator CNH in 2021. The proposal, however, was unsuccessful.

Moreover, the Mexican Institute of Finance Executives (IMEF) expressed concern about these statements and said that eliminating autonomous entities goes against constitutional principles of competitiveness and the regulatory state model, which should seek to guarantee an equitable environment for all state participants.