Sánchez separates energy from competition while boasting that Ribera combines both portfolios in the EU

This will be the last one assignment of the third Vice-President, Teresa Ribera, before leaving for Brussels where she will lead European climate and competition policies, as Vice-President of the government team of Ursula von der Leyenin Brussels.

A position desired by Ribera herself and for which she had the support of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, who considers that with her “the EU has a magnificent opportunity to continue building a fairer, greener, modern and sustainable Europe.”

However, this objective of combining the decarbonisation path with a strong industrial commitment, the reduction of energy prices and the defence of an internal market not distorted by state aid or abuse of dominant positions by companies, contrasts with the legacy of the stars that he left in Spain: leaving the energy sector outside the body that regulates competition in our country, with the creation of a specific body for this purpose.

Ribera is now heading to Europe with the mission of linking “green transition policies (climate and energy) and those of technology, industry or trade – which will be aided by the simultaneous execution of the Competition portfolio -, access to services, administrative functions, and the authority it has over regulatory and financial instruments”, as explained by the Royal ElCano Institute.

A task that, apparently, is incompatible in Spain in the hands of the CNMC because, as Ribera has explained on several occasions, “the The challenge of the energy transition also requires an independent regulator and specialized and adequate technical resources to prepare the energy system to achieve this ambitious objective that we set for ourselves of climate neutrality.

It is no secret that there are differences between the current president of the CNMC, Cani Fernandezand Vice President Ribera. Controversy has been hanging over the regulatory institution since he began his presidency in June 2020.

A Commission in conflict

She was the candidate proposed by Moncloa, since she worked as a advisor to Ivan Redondothen Director of the Cabinet of Pedro Sánchez between 2018 and 2021. A profile that was not Ribera’s favorite but that was that of the first vice president and Minister of Economy at the time, Nadia Calvino.

And eight months later, in her first appearance as president of Competition in the Congress of Deputies, in February 2021, it was seen that she was alone. He accused the lack of functional independence of the organization and requested that Law 3/2013 that created the CNMC and its statute be modified in order to make a change within the institution.

Fernandez’s goal was to take advantage of the degree of autonomy of the Bank of Spain or the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).

In fact, in the energy sector it is clear that there is a lack of harmony between the organization chaired by Fernández and Ribera’s portfolio and that the latter was going to pressure for energy to leave the CNMC to another organization where the entire sector would be under his influence.

Human and economic resources

With the dismemberment of the CNMC and the arrival of the National Energy Commission, a double effect occurs. The first, that the entire energy sector is controlled by the Energy Transition and moves away from the Economy. The second is that a new organization must also be created, which requires a budget allocation.

This budget increase will be used to cover the new human and especially material resources which the institution will need. In the bill to re-establish the National Energy Commission, it is proposed that its Council be composed of seven members.

Among them, they will be considered senior officials the one who exercises the presidency, having the rank of secretary of state, the one who exercises the vice-presidency and five advisors.

This is almost double the cost of having senior officials, since the CNMC has eight people on its Board. In addition, the CNE will have a General Secretariat and Council Secretariatin addition to one multidisciplinary team in order to effectively achieve its objective.

They must also have material resources. We will have to see what happens with the dispute. CNMC headquarters. At the time, it belonged to the now defunct National Energy Commission, and now it is proposed that it return there. This means that Cani Fernández and his entire team They will have to look for a new location or reach an agreement with the new one friends of the CNE.

But all this could remain a dead letter because it will have to pass through a very fragmented Congress of Deputies. The new law will be the subject of complex negotiations with the parliamentary groups. And given the legislative deadlock, it is difficult to see the CNE being born as soon as Ribera would have wanted.

Ribera, Commissioner

Now Ribera goes to Brussels where he will be de facto Von der Leyen’s number two. A portfolio that includes Competition and Just Transition (which includes the energy transition). His first match ball will be the development of the new Clean Industrial PactA priority for the President of the European Commission, which must be developed in the first 100 days of her mandate.

This will be the moment for the new Commissioner to also explain how the interests of the energy transition are combined with the promotion of the competitiveness of European industries. Quite a challenge for a Vice-President who, in Spain, believes that powers must be separated so that progress in the fight against the climate is not undermined by economic issues.