The rupture of the interbloc of senators of the front of all It has already begun to condition the ruling party. He new block that was formed from this division, with strong interference from PJ governors, announced that will not guarantee quorum to meet and that they will negotiate project by project, with an eye on issues like rates and inflation.
Although the vice president Cristina Kirchner took care of hold President Alberto Fernández responsible for the rupturethrough the letter sent to him by Jujuy william snopek to communicate his departure from the block due to his disagreement with the “management course” of the president, behind the break there were several reasons.
The course of management was one of them. The other was the spirit of governors like Cordoba Juan Schiarettithe puntano Alberto Rodriguez Saa and to a certain extent also the Entre Ríos Gustavo Bordet to put together a new pole of power within Congress with the capacity to condition the agenda.
With five senators, Starting March 1, the new Federal Unit block will be a key element for the Upper House to have a quorum to be able to hold sessions. The Frente de Todos will be left with 31, behind Together for Change with 33. No one will reach 37 without the help of this sector, which wants to discuss “the energy, transportation and inflation issues.”
The agenda of the new bloc and the conditioned quorum for the Frente de Todos
Minutes before the preparatory session in which the Senate re-elected its authorities on Thursday, the new Federal Unit block that makes up Snopek, Edgar Kueider (Between rivers), Carlos “Camau” Espinola (currents), Maria Eugenia Catalfamo (Saint Louis) and Alejandra Vigo (Córdoba) gave a press conference where they advanced their position.
The first position they took is that they cannot “advance a definitive position” regarding the quorum, but rather They will define topic by topic. The second is that the break with the Frente de Todos “is not against anyone”, but seeks to “enforce the representation of the provinces” with a own agenda.
After the rupture of the Frente de Todos, the new block is preparing to negotiate its projects before giving a quorum
This was remarked by Snopek and Vigo, wife of Governor Schiaretti, who They coincided in pointing out that the bloc wants to “discuss the energy, transport and inflation issues”, with an emphasis on the question of subsidies and a view of the “federal agenda”.
In the Senate there is already a preview of what that agenda will be. This is a bill introduced by Kueider that proposes reduce electricity rate for residential and commercial users through a VAT cut and the prohibition of the collection of fees and extra charges.
With those issues in its sights, Snopek advanced the idea of the block of “invite” the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, to the Senateto talk about the rates and transportation subsidies received by the provinces of the interior, when asked if they had had any contact with the official.
What’s behind the breakup?
“It is not an election issuewe have been talking for months,” said Vigo about the creation of the new block, in which they will try, according to the San Luis Catalfamo -point of Rodríguez Saá- avoid “personalities”.
That is another of the definitions launched by the new space of the Senate and that It points, elliptically, to both Cristina Kirchner and Juntos por el Cambio, where internal issues are also beginning to go through the leadership in the face of the elections and the role of the main referents of the PRO and the UCR.
“Let’s work on that all the senators of Federal Unity have a leading role and the centrality of its provinces. We are going to seek constant dialogue, “said Snopek along with his new benchmates.
Cristina Kirchner will no longer have a guaranteed quorum and loses control of the Chamber
One of the reasons for the breakup was precisely the perception of “bad weather” both within the pro-government bloc and in the Senate compound, according to a source from the Frente de Todos bench slipped to iProfessional. Several legislators are dissatisfied with the government’s results and also with the way Kirchnerism is leading.
The letter of resignation from the Snopek bloc, released by Cristina Kirchner, makes specific mention of Alberto Fernández, but the malaise transcends the President according to the sources consulted.
At the inaugural press conference of the new bloc, They partially confirmed this picture of the situation by pointing out that another of the motivations for setting up the Federal Unit space is “to change the climate of the Chamber.”
Cristina Kirchner loses control of the Senate
The pro-government interblock headed by José Mayans and Juliana di Tullio did not reach an agreement with the disgruntled senators to avoid a rupture, as they had hoped. Until now they had 35 senators and they achieved a quorum of 37 with the help of allies such as Alberto Weretilneck from Rio Negro, Clara Vega from La Rioja and the missionary Magdalena Solari.
The loss of Snopek, Espínola, Catalfamo and Kueider leaves Frente de Todos in a much more complicated situation. To the ruling party it will not be enough with those three allies to have a quorum and Cristina Kirchner, who until now was able to handle the Senate quite comfortably, will no longer have an easy task.
The vice president found out about the rupture of the block while in Santa Cruz, where she traveled to spend her birthday. After the news and the spread of Snopek’s letter as a way of holding Alberto Fernández accountable, she decided to stay there and not participate in the preparatory session this Thursday, something with little precedent in history.
The vice president held Alberto Fernández indirectly responsible for the break
Now the The expectation is placed on his presence or not during the Legislative Assembly on March 1, when Alberto Fernández will attend Congress to inaugurate the new period of ordinary sessions and review the management that the vice president criticizes him. It would be the first time in almost a year that they would be shown together, if ever.
Who are the senators of the new bloc?
He snopek bummer He has been known by his peers for a long time. He never hid his anger with the good harmony that, according to him, there is between the national government and the governor of Jujuy, Gerardo Moraleswhich complicates him to face a robust political arm in his province that confronts the radical.
For his part, Kueider was one of the most “Albertist” of the bench although that position he moderated with the passage of time. He responds directly to Governor Bordet, who distanced himself from the impeachment of the Supreme Court that Fernández promoted, in a gesture of independence that had already set off alarms in the ruling party.
While, Espínola always moved with more independence dent of the Senate for not having a direct political boss and being one of the few Peronists with their own political arm in Corrientes, historically governed by the UCR.
The novelty of the rebellion is Catalfamo. By order of Rodríguez Saá, the senator had already distinguished herself from her colleagues last year by voting against the expansion project of the Supreme Court as a result of the fight that exists between the governor and his senator brother, Adolfo Rodríguez Saá.
The meeting that Rodríguez Saá and Schiaretti had in January, with coincidences on the need to create a new political space outside of “the crack”, turned out to be a preview of what happened in the Senate. Through his wife, Senator Vigothe Cordovan played a fundamental role in the division of the official bloc and the creation of the new space.
