Outgoing CNMC president admits 'errors' in farewell, defends regulatory independence and energy oversight

A farewell with reflections

Cani Fernández, president of Spain's competition authority CNMC, used a public forum in Madrid on 11 June 2026 to bid farewell as her six-year term nears its 17 June expiry. She admitted 'successes and errors' but declined to specify any single decision she regrets, saying only that she would have done many things differently. The speech, delivered at a breakfast event attended by the economic and institutional establishment, was laden with literary references from Gracián to Quevedo.

Quevedo warned us about the force of money, defining it as a powerful gentleman, and we see it every day. But that is precisely what competition law exists for: to remind Mr. Money that he too must abide by the rules, that size does not give free rein, and that efficiency can never be an excuse for exclusion.

Fernández, whose replacement has not yet been named by the government, told the audience that she leaves with pride in an institution she sought to make 'more useful, more independent, more respected.' She acknowledged, however, that there were 'moments of pressure, institutional solitude, and fair and unfair criticism,' and that she had learned to read the press 'dispassionately.'

Energy as the 'Everest'

Fernández identified energy regulation as the single greatest challenge of her tenure, describing it as an 'Everest regulatorio' that consumed more of her time 'than my own husband.' She argued that energy is 'not just another sector' because it determines household bills, factory costs, strategic autonomy, and supply security. The complexity, she said, required 'technique, composure, and a sense of state,' and she defended the careful pace of decision-making.

Technique has its own pace, the procedure protects everyone, and legal certainty is not a jurist's whim but a democratic guarantee.

The blackout and pending lessons

The CNMC came under heavy criticism for the slow approval of a procedure to manage grid tension, which many experts claim could have averted the historic nationwide blackout of 28 April 2025. Fernández addressed the event obliquely, calling it a lesson from which 'we have all learned enormously, including at the European level,' and said that only once the formal resolutions are published will it be clear whether different decisions should have been made. She insisted that the regulator must continue to advance rules that make the growing share of renewables safe and prevent a similar collapse.

BBVA-Sabadell and other battles

Asked about the BBVA-Sabadell merger case, Fernández described it as 'not the most technically difficult' file she handled, but the one that attracted the most media pressure. The volume of third-party submissions made its management especially complex. She also noted that the telecoms sector 'no longer needs as much regulation,' hinting at a lighter touch for that industry under future leadership.

A successor with 'common sense'

Fernández recommended that her successor possess 'technical capacity, especially in competition, and plenty of common sense.' She urged whoever follows her to preserve the technical quality of the CNMC's staff, retain talent despite fierce private-sector competition, and maintain the institution's openness to the world. She paid an emotional tribute to former vice-president Ángel Torres, who died in 2023, and to all the staff, saying 'they are the CNMC, not the headlines.'

The institutions are a mix of intelligence, patience, and decency that allows a country to work a little better.