Spain: Rajoy departure leaves CNMC open to fresh onslaught

Spanish regulator CNMC (the National Commission of Markets and Competition) has intensified the judicial battle over the reduction of functions it has suffered (especially over the matter of energy) under the mandate of former president Mariano Rajoy.

The plenary session of the CNMC decided last Wednesday, unanimously, to lodge an appeal before the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the National Assembly against a new withdrawal of powers in favor of the Ministry of Energy contained in a recent regulation.

The appeal, pending admission, was filed last Friday at noon. With it, the CNMC adds another notch to the struggle over a constant erosion of powers to which the body created by Rajoy in 2013 has been subjected and which, in addition to two lawsuits in the Spanish courts against the Government, has prompted the start of an infringement proceeding against Spain by the European Commission.

It remains to be seen what the new prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, has planned with regards to the CNMC, whose creation (an invention of the Rajoy Government) the PSOE never supported. The Socialists have been in favor of the previous model, with a competition regulator on the one hand and sector-based regulators acting separately.