[JURIST] Opposition members of the Mexican Congress have ended their protest against a proposed energy reform bill backed by Mexican President Felipe Calderon [official websites, in Spanish], after the ruling party agreed to allow further debate on the bill. Members of Mexico's Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) [party website, in Spanish] and several smaller parties had staged a 15-day sit-in over their objections to certain provisions of the proposed oil bill, including one that would allow state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos [official website, in Spanish] to work with private companies, a move they say is tantamount to privatization. PRD leader Carlos Navarrete told reporters Friday that the ruling party had agreed to schedule a national debate on the bill.

The protests [JURIST report] began earlier this month, when demonstrators in Mexico's lower house of Congress, the Chamber of Deputies [official website, in Spanish], put up barricades around their encampment by the speaker's podium. Their colleagues in the Mexican Senate [official website, in Spanish] also reportedly began a fast. Bloomberg has more.