The approval of the electricity reform proposed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador would be “the biggest mistake of the entire six-year term”, due to the short, medium, and long-term effects, the former Secretary of the Treasury, Carlos Urzúa.
This was said by the former official in a private meeting he had yesterday with the Citizen Movement bench, where he warned that the government “is underestimating what can happen with the rejection of clean energy.”
“Not only will it have a strong environmental impact, it will also cause a long and costly legal process for the compensation that will have to be covered, and all to defend a parastatal (CFE) that has neither the resources nor the efficiency to ensure the electricity supply. throughout the country, ”he argued.
Urzúa added that this will affect the investments that Mexico needs so much after the pandemic, so he trusted that the project -which is scheduled for 2022- “does not materialize.”
“Unfortunately, private investment is not what we should have, and this is going to stop even more this investment that we need so much, I hope it will not materialize, I have high hopes that it will not materialize, and if it does materialize I think that the government itself is aware that it was passed and that there will be a series of demands for the reform itself, ”Urzúa noted, according to an audio leaked to the media after the private meeting.
The emecist Jorge Álvarez Máynez shared images of the meeting, and pointed out that with the former secretary “we agree on one thing: it is the greatest risk facing our country.”
Regarding Urzúa’s statements, the Morena coordinator in San Lázaro, Ignacio Mier, recalled that the former official has a “different thinking” and therefore is no longer in the government.
Since his departure from the AMLO government in July 2019, Urzúa has become a critic of the federal government, especially in his weekly column in El Universal.
“He is a good academic, a good theorist and that is why he is no longer in government. And he has a different opinion than us, that is why there is also a fundamental discrepancy on what the electricity industry represents. He is a good economist, he has full knowledge of macroeconomic models and econometrics, but the case of the electricity industry goes beyond making numbers that favor a few to the detriment of millions of Mexicans, “said the Morenista.
Ambassador Ken Salazar expresses to the Mexican government ‘serious concerns’ about electricity reform
Through a post on Twitter, Salazar said that in those meetings he expressed ” serious concerns on the part of the United States ” on the issue.
When questioned about the report of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) of the United States Department of Energy, which indicates that if the Electricity Reform project is approved, there is a risk that the emission of pollutants, such as carbon, will increase by up to 65 percent.
“With all due respect, they do not have information about what is being done in Mexico. I just sent a letter to President Biden, to establish our position in the fight that they are leading, which he is leading together with Mr. John Kerry to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help stop the problem of global warming, “he said. in morning conference.
” We are making commitments to have a clean energy production, as I do not know if the letter has already been received, I could not make it known now, it is not the most convenient, form is substantive, I will wait. Today I am going to make sure if you have already received the letter and tomorrow we will make it known and there this answer to what you ask me ”, he said.
The president insisted that his government cannot maintain the subsidies for private companies, and said that if the initiative he sent to Congress is not approved, there will be chaos in the electricity sector.
He added that he does not see any concern on the part of sectors in the United States about the proposal, and said that those who are concerned are the newspaper Reforma, the OXXO stores and José Antonio Fernández, executive president of the Board of Directors of FEMSA.
The draft of a report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), of the United States Department of Energy, indicates that if the Electricity Reform proposed by AMLO is approved, Mexico’s carbon emissions could increase up to 65 percent and the prices of light between 32 and 54 percent.
