"Here it's over, done, enough..."
, Cristina Kirchner told Alberto Fernández in the preview of the first Legislative Assembly that the presidential binomial shared, in March 2020, in a video that went viral and foreshadowed the
storms to come.
This Wednesday they will have their
fourth and last appointment
of these characteristics, before Congress.
Among the not too abundant occasions that they shared activities,
the inauguration of ordinary sessions marked moments of a relationship that went from the initial expectation to the ups and downs and the fracture,
in the political experiment Frente de Todos that the vice devised to return to power in 2019.
This March 1 will have a new chapter in the relationship between the President and his vice president between
renewed tensions over the candidacies and Alberto's intention to go for his re-election.
Fernández also oscillated from his arrival at the Casa Rosada between the initial claim to rise above the divisions -the early days of the management of the pandemic were a sample- to the open confrontation with the opposition and to assume the judicial agenda of the vice president. , with the impossible impeachment of the members of the Supreme Court as the culminating maneuver.
Along these lines, beyond this agonizing onslaught in the last year of his term, the attack on the Judiciary was a constant in the President's messages to Congress, with judicial projects quickly approved by the majority of the FdT in the Senate, but which they were stopped in Deputies.
The
pandemic
marked the FdT government and since 2021 had its correlate in the speeches and criticism of the opposition.
The economic crisis and high inflation marked the management
: Fernández will give his last message with inflation for January -latest data- of 6% and year-on-year of 94.8%.
Another constant of the President was his criticism of the taking on debt with the IMF by the Macrista administration.
Last year the verbal crossings escalated and the PRO left the venue.
This March 1st comes
in a similar climate of confrontation, with the addition of the trial of the Court and an almost paralyzed Congress.
The Legislative Assembly, in 2020
President Alberto Fernandez with Cristina Kirchner, at the opening of the ordinary sessions on March 1, 2020. Photo: Emmanuel Fernández
The axis of your message.
It was the first hard advance against Justice.
He proposed judicial reform to add dozens of federal courts and liquefy the power of Comodoro Py's 12.
He spoke little about the economy, but in line with his campaign promise (he had taken office 81 days ago) he announced the sending to Congress of the bill to legalize abortion.
The bond with Cristina.
The former president had anointed Alberto and had taken him to the top, and the relationship was still flowing.
But already storms were looming.
The video that showed them together talking when the President arrived at Congress went viral, where she told him annoyed: "Here it's over, that's it, enough, thank you," and he replies "well...", hiding his annoyance.
relationship with the opposition.
There were no crosses or interruptions and Alberto showed himself, at his debut as president, with a balanced speech and just a few criticisms of Macri, his predecessor - to the indebtedness, to the "scorched earth" - that the opposition endured without whistle.
The legislative agenda.
The bill to legalize abortion -with fertile ground to advance after its first treatment in 2018, despite the rejection of the Senate that year- would be turned into law, a milestone without a doubt in Fernández's management.
Not so the judicial reform and other progress projects on Justice approved with a majority of the Frente de Todos in the Senate but held back in Deputies.
Inflation for the month of March 2020 would be 3.3%, bringing the interannual rate to 48.4%. The blue dollar was $78.50.
Fernández left that day in Congress a phrase destined to last:
"We are a government of scientists, not of CEOs."
The Legislative Assembly, in 2021
Alberto Fernández arrives at Congress and is received by Cristina Kirchner for the 2021 Legislative Assembly, in the midst of a pandemic.
The axis of your message.
In the election year, he had a confrontational and polarizing speech, and charged against the Justice, the opposition and the media not controlled by his government.
He announced the initiation of a criminal complaint against the Macri government for the loan taken from the International Monetary Fund.
He attacked the Supreme Court in particular and promoted the creation of a "constitutional court" that is "on par", seeking to cut its power.
He defended the measures adopted by the Government against the pandemic.
The bond with Cristina.
The tough speech had gestures of approval from the vice.
In fact, Alberto returned to the postulates of hard Kirchnerism, leaving behind the more conciliatory imprint that he had shown at the beginning of his administration and materialized in the early days of managing the pandemic.
relationship with the opposition.
The VIP vaccination scandal was very fresh and the reproaches of the opposition legislators focused on reminding Fernández of it.
But, due to the pandemic, it was a very atypical Legislative Assembly, with only a third of the legislators in their seats.
The legislative agenda.
There were announcements of projects to raise the preferences for the Argentine Buy, an Agrobioindustrial law, a new hydrocarbon law, an emergency law in public services to de-dollarize rates.
Several were debated but none was sanctioned until today.
He reiterated sending a reform to the Judicial Council to "depoliticize" it (sic) and demanded judicial reform.
Inflation in March of that year 2021 was 4.8%, and the year-on-year rate reached 42.6%. The blue dollar was $146.
An outstanding phrase from Fernández:
"The Judiciary is in crisis and seems to live on the margins of the republican system."
The Legislative Assembly, in 2022
Legislative Assembly on March 1, 2022. Sergio Massa, Alberto Fernández, Cristina Kirchner and Senator Claudia Ledesma. Photo Federico López Claro
The axis of your message.
Exactly one year ago, Alberto Fernández defended the agreement with the Monetary Fund that had yet to reach Congress, assuring that it did not imply pension or labor reform.
He promised to adjust rates but not above wages.
The still Minister Martín Guzmán was present in one of the boxes.
The bond with Cristina.
The grimace of Cristina's face in the photos of the day with the President remained the best description of the vice's malaise, in an already fractured relationship.
Máximo K. hit the foul the same as in 2021, and the hard wing of the FdT would vote against the agreement with the IMF ten days later.
relationship with the opposition.
In a shouting session, the PRO amplified the scandal by withdrawing from its seats when Fernández again criticized the debt contracted by the Macri administration with the IMF and announced that he had instructed to initiate a criminal complaint.
Rodríguez Larreta also left.
When the Russia-Ukraine war began, JxC hung Ukrainian flags in solidarity and reproached the Government for its ambiguity and lack of condemnation of the aggression.
The legislative agenda.
For the third consecutive year, Alberto charged against Justice.
He requested changes to the Rental Law, which was discussed for a good part of the year in Deputies but the ultra K line prevailed and blocked a return to the previous norm.
Medical cannabis was sanctioned but the extension of parental licenses came to nothing.
The inflation index for March 2022 was 6.7%, the highest since April 2022. The interannual rate reached 55.1% and the blue dollar was selling for $206.
In his search for support for the debt agreement, Fernández said:
"This is the best agreement (with the IMF) that could be achieved, without adjustment and with an increase in real spending."