A few days ago, the federal Executive sent an initiative for far-reaching reforms, which could be considered one of those with the greatest economic impact in his six-year term, since it reduces private investment and the rule of law at the discretion of the government.
As Agis Negocios points out, the reform expands the grounds for revocation of concessions, permits, authorizations or licenses when the events affect the public, general or social interest, cause some type of economic, social, environmental or any other type of imbalance. With the changes, all procurement and public works contracts entered into by the Federal Public Administration (APF) at the national and international level must include a so-called “exorbitant clause”, with which those contracts may be terminated early for cause of “public interest”.
The changes limit compensation when there are sentences unfavorable to the APF in judicial or arbitration proceedings, locally and internationally. The government could, as in fact it did previously by presidential decree, acquire goods in international tenders without having exhausted the national tenders as up to now the law dictates. This may occur when “market research” shows that better price, quantity and quality conditions can be obtained abroad.
The changes seek to reinforce the limits on the remuneration of public servants, including those who work in autonomous constitutional bodies. Likewise, the reform contemplates giving the Federal Executive the possibility of giving indefinite assignments for the provision of public services to parastatal entities in the field of railways and general communication routes.
Regarding public works and related services, the initiative also seeks to establish in law the behavior of the current government to “evade” certain provisions and legal responsibilities when building priority infrastructure works, such as the construction of the Dos Bocas refinery, the Tren Maya or the Tehuantepec Isthmus Project. Under the new figure, these and future works could be carried out in an “agile and immediate” way when they are of obvious and urgent need for the economic and social development of the country, as well as for defense and national security, avoiding having to comply with requirements that establishes the law.
In conclusion, for some experts, the changes to the laws will make it possible to annul administrative acts when they are considered illegal or have been the product of acts of corruption; or when the authorities discretionally indicate that these acts affected the public interest –general or social–, cause economic, social, environmental or any other kind of imbalance.
This initiative, if approved and confirmed in court, will be able to make López Obrador boast that from now on, the rule of law is managed from the National Palace. But, like many of the acts of misrule of the current government, why are they presented at the beginning of the Easter holidays? Will they be to give the early bird? Does López Obrador realize that it could be the coup de grace to drive away foreign investments that had planned to come to Mexico as a result of nearshoring? An initiative that will deserve many mornings of explanations, if AMLO were, instead of a Machiavellian politician, a true account renderer.
