More than a change De la Rúa has conducted a government overhaul.

The stress was made on reassigning duties and roles among the officials rather than on the introduction of new figures.

There’s no change of steering and the central question is whether the overhaul will be enough to solve two key problems faced by the De la Rúa’s Administration: overcoming the political crisis over the bribes-for-votes scandal at the Senate and ruling out pessimistic expectations of the economic outlook.

As regards the first problem, the overhaul falls short of overcoming the crisis since the public opinion links to those episodes officials who are still in the cabinet. And in the case of Flamarique, closer to the President.

From this view, Vice President Carlos Alvarez has seen his hopes for a full-fledged renewal fade away.

On the economic front, while Economy Minister José Luis Machinea gains ground through the dismantling of the Infrastructure Ministry, the appointment of Chrystian Colombo as Cabinet Chief failed to live up to what markets expected. For these, the appointment of an economist like Ricardo López Murphy or Adalberto Rodríguez Giavarini would have sparked positive expectations.

Hence, the government renewal fails to satisfy markets for one and Alvarez for another.

As regards the new Cabinet Chief De la Rúa has appointed a figure lacking own political personality, seeking an efficient coordinator rather than a second figure of government.

But Colombo meets the expectations of relevant Radical Civic Union sectors given his good relationship with former President Raul Alfonsín and former Interior Minister Enrique Nosiglia.

Jorge de la Rúa in Justice and Patricia Bullrich in Labor seem to point these two officials enjoy the President’s personal trust for the posts.

To conclude, De la Rúa has reshuffled government but he is unlikely to overcome the political crisis and the problem of the economic expectations.