The opposition coalition Together for Change arrives at the Christmas and New Year holidays with a panorama of internal debate generated by the differences in the parliamentary strategy, in the relationship with the national government and doubts about how the conduction of the space will be shaped in the National Table, which brings together all the parties of that force.
At the legislative level, the new Congress that emerged from the legislative elections of November 14 marked its first victory for the opposition during the debate on the 2022 Budget bill, where it was imposed by 132 votes to 121 of the Frente de Todos for reject the so-called “law of laws” that had been sent by the Casa Rosada.
However, this victory was followed by a defeat, since in the debate over the modifications to the norm on Personal Property, the Frente de Todos knew how to take revenge for that legislative defeat by winning the vote by one vote: 127 to 126.
This was made possible by the absence of three legislators from Together for Change: Álvaro González, Gabriela Brouwer de Koning and Camila Crescimbeni.
In the case of this last legislator, she was not part of the parliamentary debate because she was positive in the Covid-19 test that is carried out on the deputies before entering the premises.
In the other two cases, it is about legislators who were outside the country at the time of the vote, which generated resentments and internal invoice passes.
Álvaro González, an ally of Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, was in Germany for the wedding of his daughter, while Brouwer de Koning, who belongs to the recently created UCR-Evolución bloc, chaired by Rodrigo de Loredo, was on vacation in the United States.
One of the disagreements that exists within Juntos por el Cambio also has to do with the relationship with the national government, and in particular with the signing of the Fiscal Consensus, which was convened for next Monday by President Alberto Fernández.
JXC has three radical governors in office (Gerardo Morales, from Jujuy; Rodolfo Suárez, from Mendoza, and Gustavo Valdés, from Corrientes). The three will sign the tax agreement with the Government, which allows the provinces to collect taxes such as the so-called “inheritance tax” or to establish changes in the rates of Gross Income.
Different is the position of Horacio Rodríguez Larreta. The head of the Buenos Aires government, of the PRO, has already announced that it will reject the signing of this tax agreement and that it will not be present at the signing of the document, which the majority of the governors will sign with Fernández at Casa Rosada on Monday afternoon.
In another order, Together for Change begins the week that begins with the postponed meeting of its National Board, which promises changes in its conformation.
During a meeting held in recent days, it was agreed that the acting governors of the space, the presidents of the parties and the heads of the parliamentary blocs will participate there.
The objective is to reduce the number of members of this space of political leadership of Together for Change, which in the past had also included the presidents of the parties in the province of Buenos Aires, among other leaders.
However, there are relevant figures of the opposition who will continue to be in that Table: thus, for example, Mauricio Macri will have a place invited by Patricia Bullrich, owner of the PRO. The same will happen with Martín Lousteau, who will be added to the Table by Gerardo Morales.
In this conformation, the former Buenos Aires governor and current national deputy María Eugenia Vidal would be left out, who in recent days also strained the relationship with several JxC mayors by setting a firm position on the need to restrict the mandates of the communal chiefs.
Over the weekend, meanwhile, Mauricio Macri returned to the center of the political scene by publish a letter with harsh questions towards the national government, which many interpreted as yet another indication of his possible intention to run for President in 2023.
The presidential race continues to mark the pulse of the opposition inmates, since many of those involved in the different scenarios are already launching their own personal projects to reach the Casa Rosada in two years.
Macri, Patricia Bullrich and Rodríguez Larreta appear from the side of the PRO, while the radicalism exhibits Gerardo Morales, Martín Lousteau, Alfredo Cornejo and Facundo Manes: a multiplicity of names and crossed interests that serve to explain the high level of inmates, suspicions and mistrust inside Juntos por el Cambio.
