The law for the protection of airspace will not be approved in a hurry, warned Ricardo Monreal

The Chairman of the Policy Coordination Council (Jucopo) of the Republic Senate announced that after receiving the airspace protection bill, the bill will be carefully analyzed and not fast-tracked.

In a message posted on social networks this Sunday, February 12, the coordinator Morena in the Upper House, he warned that he considers the proposal transcendent, which is why it will be sent to the committees, after its approval by the plenary of the Chamber of Deputies on February 8.

“Among other minutes, one that seems important to me reached the Mexican Senate. The bill containing a new bill, the one referring to airspace protection“, expressed Monreal about the proposal that the President of the Republic, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, presented in April 2022.

“It’s a new concept in airspace surveillance and security. Yes, what we contained before is modified and it becomes the competence of National Defense (sedena) and military forces through mechanisms and new institutions that will serve this purpose,” commented the former governor of Zacatecas in response to the initiative.

It is in this order of ideas that the leader of the Morenista bench indicated that the project will not be approved in Expressway, but it will be carefully discussed. “I believe that the Senate should study legal instruments like this with all seriousness, with all responsibility,” he revealed.

“That’s why we won’t give a fast track, there won’t be what is commonly called in the legislation Expressway, but it will be handed over to commissions. The decision commissions will carefully and seriously examine the content of this new law and we will act responsibly.

Finally, the candidate also for the presidential candidacy of Morena clarified that the legislators of the Senate will not “rush the analysis of this fundamental legal order”. “In this case as in others, we will act with a scrupulous attitude of respect for the Constitution, the law and the rule of law,” he stressed.

According to the bill, the main objective is “to cover the law void that remains in Mexico to adequately protect Mexican airspace”, for this reason the promulgation of a new law regulating this aspect is proposed.

In this sense, the proposal contains the formation of an inter-institutional body that acts as a supervisor. It is Airspace Supervisory Boardwhich would be made up of the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena), Navy, External Relations, Communications, Infrastructure and Transport, while the chair of the table would be the chief executive of Mexico.

Among the precepts of the initiative is considered the sovereignty of Mexican airspace, which will be monitored and guarded by the state. Article 3 of the proposal empowers the sedena coordinate the authorities in terms of surveillance, while the sixth allows the military authorities to enact the technical provisions that they deem relevant.

For its part, the Council can declare an air alert and intercept unauthorized, clandestine or irregular flights in Mexican airspace.

However, the said initiative was described by the political opposition as a further step towards militarization of the country. The Movement bench in the Chamber of Deputies argued that the law duplicates functions, while also giving rise to discretionary power, as well as little accountability on the part of military authorities.