ENTREVISTA COM MATEUS SIMÕES (PSD) AO GOVERNO DE MINAS GERAIS | CNN ELEIÇÕES

"Hello, good evening."

"CNN Brasil continues its series of interviews with the candidates for the governments of the country's main states and the Federal District."

"Caio Junqueira is already here with me in the studio."

"Today we will begin the series with the candidates from Minas Gerais."

"The candidates best placed in the CNN index, CNN's polling aggregator developed in partnership with IPESP Analítica, were invited... for these rounds in various states across the country."

"As I said, we will start now with Minas Gerais, the second-largest electorate in the country, more than 16 million voters."

"The first interviewee in our series is the PSD candidate, Matheus Simões, who speaks with us live from the Itatiaia studios in Belo Horizonte, where Edilene Lopes is also present and participating in the interview, as I said, together with Caio Junqueira and me."

"Next week we will host Gabriel Azevedo, from MDB, Flávio Rosco from PL, Alexandre Calil from PDT and Patrus Ananias from PT."

"Cleitinho Azevedo, from Republicanos, was also invited to participate, but so far has not confirmed his presence."

"As I said, I will take part in this interview; the political analysts Caio Junqueira and Edilene Lopes will also be interviewers."

"We will have 45 minutes to talk with each of the candidates."

"I'll say good evening here, candidate, so we can go ahead with the first question and start our clock now."

"Candidate, you, of course, represent a continuity of governance; you were vice-governor to Romeu Zema and are now the governor of the State of Minas Gerais."

"So, obviously, you have much to defend from the current administration."

"I want to hear from you which is the main policy that your term, if you obtain a new term starting next year, will keep as Romeu Zema left it?"

"And which policy will be very different?"

"Will it be a 100% Matheus Simões policy, different from what Romeu Zema did?"

"All right, good evening."

"Yuri, Caio, Edilene, it's a pleasure to be speaking with you here."

"Whenever I'm asked what we will do differently, I keep asking myself whether it's possible to believe in a complete break."

"Yuri, I don't believe that; after seven and a half years in government, what we have is a lot of evolution in terms of policy."

"And an evolution that even seems, in some way, natural."

About: maintain balanced public accounts

"The former governor Romeu Zema's first term was about getting the accounts in order."

About: maintain balanced public accounts

"I was part of that rebalancing that allowed us to pay salaries, pay bills, and have public services functioning."

About: reduce unemployment

"The second term, in 2022, when we were elected in the first round, was about employment."

About: reduce unemployment

"And we went from a situation that was worse than the Brazilian average to the second-lowest unemployment in Brazil, the lowest in the Southeast, the lowest historical unemployment rate in Minas Gerais."

About: increase average income of Minas Gerais residents

"This next cycle is necessarily about income, about improving the... quality of life of people from Minas Gerais, who unfortunately, despite low unemployment, are still ninth in average income in Brazil."

"and we, with better income, can ensure"

"Of course, that people live better, achieve their dreams, protect their families; the State's entire economy benefits from this."

About: increase average income of Minas Gerais residents

"So, this is a cycle focused on income, without, of course, losing sight of essential services."

"I do not envision any rupture with what Governor Zema's administration was, despite the difference in personality."

"We are quite different."

"In fact, I think that was part of the success of our partnership over these years."

"I am tougher than Governor Romeu Zema and more oriented toward State management."

"I was trained as a lawyer, but I have always dealt with public and private management."

"Let me pass the floor to Edilene Lopes, who is participating in this interview with us today, also from the Itatiaia studio in Belo Horizonte."

"Edilene."

"Good evening, Caio, Yuri, Governor."

About: prohibit advertising and sponsorships from betting companies in public spaces

"Governor, today you implemented a new rule in Minas Gerais, which is the prohibition of betting advertising in public spaces."

"There is a question about why you did this at this moment, during the electoral period, and there is a second question as well."