ENTREVISTA COM GABRIEL AZEVEDO (MDB) AO GOVERNO DE MG | CNN ELEIÇÕES

"Good evening, this is CNN Brasil and today, August 24, we continue with interviews with the candidates for the government of Minas Gerais."

"With me, Caio Junqueira; here in São Paulo, Edilene Lopes, in Brasília."

"We will receive the main candidates for the government of Minas Gerais."

"All were invited, the highest-ranked candidates in the CNN index, CNN's polling aggregator, developed in partnership with IPESP Analítica."

"Minas Gerais, the country's second-largest electorate, has more than 16 million voters."

"It is the focus of our series, which began on Thursday, given the large number of competitive candidates in this race."

"We began the series with the current governor, candidate for re-election, Matheus Simões, of PSD."

"Today it's Gabriel Azevedo's turn, of MDB, who is already at the Itatiaia studios in Belo Horizonte and also already on screen here."

"I extend my greetings to the candidate and to Edilene, as well as to Caio."

"And as with all the interviews we've done in this series, it's 45 minutes of conversation with each candidate."

"As I said, Matheus Simões has already participated, today Gabriel Azevedo, we will also host Flávio Roscoe of PL, Alexandre Calil of PDT, Patrúzio Ananias of PT, and the presence of Cleitinho Azevedo of Republicanos is confirmed for Friday."

"45 minutes of interview, with the clock starting to count now, candidate."

"I want to start with the first question, even paraphrasing you, sir."

"In one of your social media posts, you said that what is good has to be maintained and what is not good has to change."

"Words more or less to that effect."

"And it's a question I've been asking to open conversations with all the candidates."

"What do you consider to be a successful public policy in the current government and that will certainly be maintained if you are elected?"

"And what will be radically changed as your first measure if you are elected?"

"Good evening, Caio."

"Good evening, Yuri."

"Good evening, Adelene."

"Good evening to you who are following us on CNN."

"That's right."

"I believe we can't simply want to throw everything away, but we also can't keep what needs to be changed."

"Let me start with what I'm going to change."

About: align growth of public spending with revenue variation

"We need to take care of the finances in order to take care of the people."

About: reduce the public deficit

"When Fernando Pimentel's government ended, we had a large public deficit and little responsibility with debt repayment."

"Eight years have gone by."

About: reduce the public deficit

"We are owing almost twice as much and the government is forecasting 7 billion in deficit for next year."

About: align growth of public spending with revenue variation

"This is not acceptable."

About: renegotiate states' debt with the Union via Propag (complementary law)

"We have to adhere to Propag, which was a very well-done negotiation with the presidency of the Assembly, which is also from the Movimento Democrático Brasileiro, and we must take great care to make expenditures rise as revenue rises, and not the other way around."

About: align growth of public spending with revenue variation

"We cannot maintain what the current government is planning for next year, which is to spend more than it collects."

About: renegotiate states' debt with the Union via Propag (complementary law)

"So everyone is on the same page, at the end of last year, Minas Gerais recognized 179.3 billion reais."

"billion in public debt with the Union."

About: renegotiate states' debt with the Union via Propag (complementary law)

"Propag gave us eight conditions to renegotiate that debt."

About: renegotiate states' debt with the Union via Propag (complementary law)

"I accept the one that provides for zero interest on the installments."

About: renegotiate states' debt with the Union via Propag (complementary law)

"But for that there has to be an amortization of 20% already, that is, 35 billion reais, and we have to balance the spending."

About: align growth of public spending with revenue variation

"So the first point is to do things differently from this government that is spending more than it raises, as the previous government did."

About: dialogue with the federal government

"And more than that, we have to do something the government is not doing: engage in dialogue with the federal government."

About: dialogue with the federal government

"The governor of Minas Gerais cannot simply keep fighting with the President of the Republic."