The Ministry of Economy announced changes surrounding senior leadership at Spain’s financial and regulatory bodies. Mariano Bacigalupo, who serves as the third vice president for Ecological Transition and is married to Teresa Ribera, was listed as stepping away from his role at the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) where he has been a consultant since 2017. The cabinet indicated that María Jesús Martín, previously the Managing Director of Energy at CNMC, would take Bacigalupo’s place as director, a move aligning with the term structure of CNMC council members. Bacigalupo’s tenure, bound by a six-year term with no option for renewal, would conclude next year, prompting the Economy Ministry to appoint Martín to replace him.
Ribera’s husband and a long-time observer of energy policy, Bacigalupo has faced attention from opposition groups in Spain, particularly from the Popular Party and Vox, due to his close ties and oversight roles as a regulator of energy policy. He joined the CNMC in 2017, a year after Ribera’s ministry—an era that marked the CNMC’s consolidation of regulatory governance with the Council. This period also followed his earlier six-year stint at the National Energy Commission, where he contributed to competition oversight across sectors. Bacigalupo’s background includes significant involvement in public regulation, reinforcing his influence across energy, digital, and transport sectors.
Docs describe Bacigalupo as a jurist and university professor who has served as a CNMC consultant and has held extensive roles within public regulatory bodies. He has led as vice president of the Ibero-American Association of Energy Regulators (ARIAE) and since 2021 has been a member of the Council of European Energy Regulators. In addition, he has been at the helm of various regulatory groups including the European Union Energy Regulators Cooperation Agency (ACER) and the European Postal Regulators Group (ERGP). He also holds the position of general secretary at Menéndez Pelayo International University and has authored or co-authored nearly 150 legal publications, according to the Ministry of Economy.
As the new CNMV director, the terms specify a four-year period renewable only once, with the executive board of the financial markets regulator responsible for its oversight. The duties include preparing and examining issues for CNMV Council consideration, coordinating with other directive bodies, and supporting the President in decision-making processes. The director will participate in approving acquisitions and asset dispositions and will help resolve issues delegated by the Council, sharing in the oversight of the Commission’s operations and governance alongside fellow board members.
Regarding the CNMC, María Jesús Martín will assume the directorship as directed by the Ministry of Economy. The appointment requires approval by the House of Representatives Commission on Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation in line with applicable regulations; however, this approval does not apply to the CNMV appointment itself. Martín, an economist with studies at the Centro de Estudios Monetarios y Financieros (CEMFI), has spent most of her career focusing on regulatory and competition law within energy markets and energy policy, aligning with CNMC’s mandate.
Over the past 24 years, Bacigalupo has served in a succession of leadership roles at the CNMC and its predecessor, the National Energy Commission. Between 2018 and 2020, he acted as the General Manager for Energy Policy and Mining within the Ministry of Energy Transformation and Demographic Challenge. He is currently the Director of Energy at the CNMC and has chosen to join the Council, reinforcing the agency’s regulatory oversight across energy and related sectors. These moves underscore a broader reshaping of Spain’s regulatory landscape as the government recalibrates leadership in key energy and financial authorities with long-standing figures who bring extensive policy experience to their new responsibilities.