The President of the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC), Cani Fernández, has reviewed the past six years at the head of the organization, six days before her mandate concludes on June 17. Aware that during this period there have been "successes and mistakes," she stated that, although she does not regret any decision, "she would have done many things differently, if she could have."

Fernández acknowledged that she does not know when her last day at the helm of the 'super-regulator' will be, as the Government has not yet made its replacement proposal. However, she recommended that the Executive choose a successor with "technical capacity" in competition matters and "common sense." "The president must have knowledge in all areas of the CNMC because they chair the Plenary of the organization, but their daily function is to chair the Competition Chamber, and the positions of president and vice-president (who chairs the Regulation Chamber) do not rotate," she explained.

The current CNMC president defended that competition law serves "to remind Mr. Money that he must also be subject to the rules." She described these six years at the helm of the organization as "the best" of her professional life, even though the path has not been easy, with "difficult moments, moments of pressure and institutional loneliness, and moments of fair and unfair criticism."

"There have been moments when it would have been more comfortable not to decide, but an independent authority is not there to choose comfort, but responsibility," she added. "Independence is demonstrated when the decision is difficult, when it pleases some and displeases others, when it does not fit anyone's urgency, when it must be explained that technique has its own time, that procedure protects everyone, and legal certainty is not a jurists' obsession but a democratic guarantee. I have tried to defend that independence with all my strength, with successes and mistakes, because no one goes through six years of complex decisions without making a mistake at some point," she added.

Regarding the power outage on April 28, Fernández noted that it was an event "from which we have all learned enormously," as it has shown that "the introduction of renewables has enormous advantages, but it must be done with guarantees." She reiterated that the origin was "multifactorial" and mentioned the more than 65 sanctioning proceedings opened by the CNMC against various electricity companies, such as Endesa, Iberdrola, or Naturgy, indicating that "it will take between 9 and 18 months" until a decision is made.

Fernández acknowledged that the area that has taken her the most time in her mandate has been energy regulation, calling it "our regulatory Everest." She highlighted that energy "is not just another sector," but affects "a family's bill, a factory's cost, a country's security of supply." She did, however, express satisfaction with the maturity of the telecommunications sector and the entry of competition in rail transport.