20 June 2014, News Wires – Mexico’s Congress looks set to miss a June deadline to finalise legislation that would enable the country to complete an overhaul to its energy sector.
Political wrangling between the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the main centre-left opposition Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) is making it more likely the legislation will not get passed until July at the earliest, according to Reuters.
Secondary laws that would pave the way for international players to take part in exploring Mexico’s oil and gas fields were expected to be passed this month.
The minority PRI needs support from the centre-right opposition National Action Party (PAN) to get the votes to pass the energy reform, which is not popular among left-leaning parties.
Cognizant of the power they hold over PRI’s ability to meet its goals in energy reform, PANzlawmakers have staged walkouts from the negotiating table in order to put pressure on the ruling party to further other PAN political objectives.
As a result, passing laws that would set out details of how the new energy regime will work no longer looks feasible in June, Reuters reported.
“With the legislative set-up as it stands, we hope the energy reform will be finalised in the first few days of July. That’s the impression we all have,” Ernesto Gandara, a PRI senator on the energy committee in the upper house of Congress, told the news wire.
Jorge Lavalle, a PAN member on the Senate energy committee, added: “If all goes well, we could be in a position to be approving the reform in the first ten days of July”, but said if disputes continue, it could take longer.
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