Ruling bloc and opposition clash over foreign investment bill

Deputies from six parties clashed on Tuesday over who should decide which foreign purchases threaten national security. Morena, the governing party, and its allies the PVEM and PT defended the bill. The opposition PAN, PRI and MC criticized it. The Chamber of Deputies' own account of the debate counts 18 speeches: four each from Morena and the PAN, three each from the PVEM and PRI, and two each from the PT and MC.

The dispute centers on the National Foreign Investment Commission, or CNIE, which reviews takeovers by foreign companies. The bill sets up a national security review and adds the Defense, Navy and Security ministries and the Digital Transformation Agency to the commission. The floor had already passed it 314 to 117 in the general vote.

Morena's María de los Dolores Padierna Luna said the bill ends "that discretion" at a commission that blocked deals without clear criteria or deadlines. The PVEM's Luis Enrique Miranda Barrera argued that national security cannot be "an excuse for arbitrary decisions," and that a collegial body, not one official, makes the call.

The PT supplied the numbers. José Alejandro Aguilar López said the target is not foreign capital in general but capital that "comes to take over" resources, infrastructure or families' data. His colleague Nora Yessica Merino Escamilla put it this way: "For everything else, the door is open." The party said the system would work like this:

• Deadline: the CNIE would rule within 45 business days.
• Threshold: review would be mandatory above 49% of the capital in strategic sectors.
• Oversight: a report to Congress every six months.

The opposition went after what the text leaves undefined. The PAN's Ernesto Sánchez Rodríguez said Article 30 Bis requires permission based on a company size the law never defines, and that no procedure exists for the asset sales the bill gives companies 90 days to complete. His colleague Marcelo de Jesús Torres Cofiño said the text "hands the keys" of the economy to security leadership.

The PRI's Hugo Eduardo Gutiérrez Arroyo said his caucus is "against regulating it badly" and wants Defense and the Navy to have a voice but no vote. The MC's Gloria Elizabeth Núñez Sánchez said the bill "overreaches in applying national security." Her colleague Gibrán Ramírez Reyes asked why the two ministries would get both.

The amount of assets that triggers a review will be set by a general CNIE resolution, due in the federal gazette within 180 calendar days. Before then come floor amendments: if any change the text, the bill goes back to the Senate.