PRESIDENTIAL transitions in Argentina are rarely smooth. But the handoff from Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the outgoing president, to Mauricio Macri, the incoming one, has been awkward even by Argentine standards. Up to the eve of Mr Macri’s inauguration on December 10th they squabbled about where it would take place. Mr Macri wanted the Casa Rosada (the presidential palace), once the traditional venue. Ms Fernández insisted on the national Congress building, where her allies would be present. The departing president is creating “as many roadblocks and new problems as she can”, complained Mr Macri. “It’s not your birthday party,” retorted Ms Fernández via Twitter.
The argument is about more serious matters than swearing-in ceremonies. Ms Fernández’s last-minute decisions will make it harder for Mr Macri to resuscitate Argentina’s ailing economy. Some will be easier to reverse than others. On November 30th Ms Fernández signed a decree boosting government spending by 133 billion pesos ($13.7 billion). On the same day she also named new ambassadors to several countries, including Cuba and Australia. That followed her nomination in October of two Supreme Court judges. Mr Macri should have little trouble halting the new appointments. Dealing with the new spending promises will be trickier. 
Ms Fernández is bequeathing to her successor a fiscal deficit that is expected to reach 7% of GDP this year, the biggest since 1982. Reducing that shortfall was never going to be easy; her parting shots will make it harder. They also threaten to distract the new government from its own agenda. With inflation close to 25% and foreign exchange reserves at alarmingly low levels, there is little time to lose. Mr Macri “needs to take decisions in the first days in office to anchor expectations and restore investor confidence”, says Dante Sica of Abeceb, an economic consultancy.
IN GRAPHICS: The results of Argentina's 2015 presidential election
Mr Macri has scored one victory in his tussle with Ms Fernández. Alejandro Vanoli, the Central Bank governor, who had obediently printed money to finance deficit spending, resigned on December 9th after threatening to stay in office until the end of his term in 2019.
That clears the way for Mr Macri to appoint Federico Sturzenegger, an economist who has worked at Harvard, to the job. And it allows his administration to move ahead with lifting foreign-exchange controls. Alfonso Prat-Gay, the new finance minister, talks of ending the controls when the government replenishes the depleted dollar reserves, perhaps as soon as December 14th. As for Ms Fernandez’s spending promises, a confident member of the transition team told La Nación, a newspaper, that those “that aren’t financially viable in the short term will be re-examined, renegotiated, lifted, delayed or appealed”.
Mr Macri’s first weeks in office will be a test of his political skill: he must shift the blame for the harsh measures he will have to take to his predecessor, where it belongs. It may be a hopeful sign that on the inauguration Mr Macri finally got his way. He was to receive the presidential sash and baton in the Casa Rosada from the provisional president of the Senate. Ms Fernández did not plan to show up.