Spain: CNMC President speaks out on possible changes under new Spanish government

The acting president of Spain’s National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC), José María Marín Quemada, expressed his wishes for the new government not to divide the agency, and that it will instead return its powers over the electric market.

Marín Quemada has stated that he still does not know if the Executive under Pedro Sánchez intends to “split up” the CNMC, as the previous Economy Minister had said. Regarding the electric market, he has indicated that he does not know the views of the Government either, although he has commented that he hopes that they will return the agency’s powers, “as Brussels has ordered.”

After a first warning in February 2015, the European Commission opened an infringement procedure against Spain in 2016, having considered that the fixing of tolls should be in the hands of independent bodies, as required by Community rules.

CNMC and ERSE, the Portuguese power utility regulatory agency, agreed on a pricing policy they submitted to the Agency for Cooperation of Energy Regulators in Brussels. Then, on May 9, 2018, the State Ministry for Energy passed a resolution that contradicted these arrangements and the CNMC’s purported powers of regulation. This has been appealed by the CNMC to Spain’s National Assembly.

Marín Quemada has stated that it is still “extraordinarily” soon to make these decisions, since the new Executive has just begun his administration, but has stated that “the CNMC is always available to talk about all these issues because they are critical.”

Full Content: ABC

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