CNMC

CNMC (Comision Nacional de Mercados y la Competencia) is Spain's National Markets and Competition Commission, the independent regulatory body that oversees competition and regulatory matters in energy, telecommunications, transport, and audio-visual sectors. It hosts the Madrid Gas Regulatory Forum, the biannual EU-level consultative body where member states, regulators, and industry participants converge to shape European gas market regulation. The 40th edition of the Forum is scheduled for 29-30 April 2026 in Madrid.

CNMC was established in 2013 under Spain's competition and market reform law, consolidating functions previously divided among sector-specific regulators. It is modelled on EU network regulation principles and participates in the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) and ACER. Spain's geographic position as the EU's principal LNG import gateway, with six regasification terminals, gives CNMC and the Madrid Forum an outsized role in shaping gas policy that stretches beyond Spanish domestic markets.

With Europe scrambling to address the 2026 supply crisis, the Madrid Gas Regulatory Forum takes on elevated significance: it is a key venue for coordinating national regulatory responses to the REMIT recast (binding 29 April), the Russian LNG contract ban, and injection season adequacy. Spain's energy minister and CNMC chair are expected to use the 40th Forum to press for EU-wide intervention in storage economics, aligning with VNG AG's lobbying position in Germany.