Senators finalize the dissolution of Coneval

The Senate approved, by 73 votes from Morena, PVEM, and PT, and 34 from PAN, PRI, and MC against, the decree amending the General Law on Social Development, the Federal Budget and Fiscal Responsibility Law, and the General Law on Government Accounting, in terms of organizational simplification following the dissolution of the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Coneval), whose functions will be assumed by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).

Once its legislative process was completed, the decree was sent to the federal Executive for promulgation and entry into force.

The reform aims to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of processes related to poverty measurement and the evaluation of the Social Development Policy (PDS).

The General Law on Social Development is being amended to maintain the poverty measurement benchmarks, but expand the scope of INEGI's authority to assess the PDS, with the goal of reducing inequalities and promoting sustainable development.

“As president of the Welfare Commission, I want to tell you that I am excited and deeply challenged by the opportunity we have today to strengthen the operational capacity of the Mexican State in what I believe is the heart of its work: combating poverty. And to combat it, we must first measure it, study its causes, and evaluate the measures used to address it, seeking to replicate what works and eliminate what doesn't, transform it, adjust it, and change it,” stated Andrea Chávez (Morena) in justifying the decree.

Possible opacity

For the PAN, Agustín Dorantes said that the reform, authored by Morena, is nothing more than a blatant act of opacity.

Coneval is being replaced by Inegi, he asserted, not because of supposed republican austerity, but because they are uncomfortable with the rigorous evaluation and measurement of poverty.

"This reform doesn't transfer functions; it destroys them, eliminates civil society participation, erases management and service performance indicators, prohibits adjusting programs that don't work, and eliminates specialized Coneval staff, wasting years and years of technical experience," he stated.

On behalf of the PRI, Ángel García asked, "What benefit does Mexico gain from eliminating this agency and transferring all its powers to INEGI? Who benefits from this? Because it's not the poor, it's not the families who live in poverty today, it's not the women heads of households who depend on a well-designed and structured social policy. The benefits go to the current government, which refuses to be held accountable."