One day after taking administrative control of the National Action Party caucus in the Mexican Senate, Ernesto Cordero sent a message to President Enrique Peña Nieto that he would have the support of party legislators in making changes to the Constitution regarding the energy reform.
"We want to send a message to President Peña Nieto from here on the issue of energy: Don't be discouraged, you can amend the Constitution and make a true reform in the energy sector.
"The National Action Party legislators are willing to truly solve the issue. We want reform that truly creates jobs, generates investment in Mexico, supplies all Mexicans with energy at competitive prices and that will truly be a lever for development," he said at a news conference.Changes to the Constitution require the vote of three-fourths of the Congress, and in the Senate a majority of the 38 PAN legislators is needed. Up until now, they have been divided [on this issue]. Apparently, Cordero now has the support of 23 of them.
Asked if his message to Peña Nieto involves the privatization of Pemex, Cordero evaded answering and again noted that the PAN
"wants to modernize the sector. We are going to go to the bottom of the issue; we will present our initiative, our reform, which I'm sure will serve the economic needs of the country and will, of course, be a very responsible initiative."Separately, the coordinator of the PRD bloc, Miguel Barbosa, said that they will not endorse the amendment of Article 27 of the Constitution. In a clear response to Peña Nieto's statements to the British press, the PRD senator said that
"it is not a matter for political opponents to wink at each other in order to indicate that they could form the two-thirds majorities in the Chamber of Deputies and Senate.
"Whoever might think so isn't measuring the importance the issue of privatizing oil has for Mexicans, for our nation," said Barbosa shortly after Ernesto Cordero's statements.Spanish original