SABATINA COM OS CANDIDATOS AO GOVERNO DE MINAS: MATEUS SIMÕES (PSD)

"Hello, I'm Eustáquio Ramos and we are continuing the Sabatinas with the candidates for the governorship of Minas."

"Our goal is for you, a voter from Minas, to get to know all the proposals, ideas and the background of each candidate for the Palácio Tiradentes."

"Our guest now is Matheus Simões, from PSD, a candidate for re-election."

"Participating in the Sabatina are journalists Bernardo Stilac, Lucas Negrisoli and Berta Macarum, from Itatiaia's politics team."

"The interviews will last... 30 minutes, which start counting from now."

"Hello, candidate Matheus Sumões."

"The first question to open this interview is to know why you want to be, or want to continue being, governor of Minas Gerais."

"First, it's very good to be here at Itatiaia."

"I'm glad you are conducting these sabatinas, because it's an opportunity for the public to understand who each of the candidates being put forward at this moment is."

"In my case, I think the reason is more obvious."

About: ensure timely payroll payments and transfers to municipalities

"Ex-governor Zema and I found a State that was... It was absolutely devastated in 2019: salaries overdue, hospitals without medicine, works halted, the 13th salary hadn't been paid, municipalities in great difficulty for not receiving resources, and we spent seven and a half years to get to the point we are at today, with bills being paid, investments being resumed, significant improvements in education, security and health, and I don't want us to go back"

About: ensure timely payroll payments and transfers to municipalities

"to relive the nightmare that we experienced up until 2018."

About: continue the policies of the current state administration

"So I would say that my presence in this year's electoral contest essentially aims to not throw away a job that cost the people of Minas and Minas Gerais a lot to achieve, to guarantee the legacy of what former governor Romeu Zema did and to be able to advance from there, because there is still much to do in Minas Gerais."

"Governor, in your assessment, what is the main problem the State still faces today and what will be the main focus of a possible second term of yours?"

About: increase average income of Minas Gerais residents

"Although any opinion poll indicates, Bernardo, that the biggest problem is healthcare — and healthcare is indeed an issue that across Brazil will always appear first — I think it is undeniable that Minas Gerais has a challenge regarding income."

"Interestingly, the State's challenge is the same as that of the people of Minas."

"In 2019, our goal was to put the accounts in order."

"That was done."

"Then, in 2022, it was to eliminate unemployment in the State."

About: reduce unemployment

"That was also done."

About: reduce unemployment

"Minas now has the lowest unemployment rate in its history, 3.4%."

"Second lowest in Brazil."

"But the average income of people from Minas is still low."

"When we compare with the rest of our neighbors, we rank only ninth in average income in the country."

"We rank below all the neighboring states."

About: attract and create skilled jobs in Minas Gerais

"And we need to ensure, with adequate infrastructure, technical training and openness to companies, that more qualified jobs will arrive and that they will employ people from Minas."

"Matheus, what does that have to do with the State itself?"

About: attract and create skilled jobs in Minas Gerais

"People earning more consume more, circulate more wealth, and even pay more taxes."

"And with that we can provide better public services."

"It's a virtuous cycle that we need to initiate in Minas Gerais."

"I consider this to be the third phase of the work we have been carrying out over the last seven years."

"Governor, in recent years, the Romeu Zema government, above all, had a rather troubled relationship with the federal government."

"How will your relationship with the federal government be in the event you are re-elected, whether at the national level it is Lula or Bolsonaro, Flávio Bolsonaro?"

"I hope it is Romeu Zema, who is my candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, and Brazil's challenge is very similar to what Minas Gerais had to face in 2019."

About: prioritize state governance over national ideological disputes

"Now, I think, Berta, that we need to focus on the State, focus less on the ideological dispute that is taking place at the national level."

About: maintain political independence from national polarization

"Besides, I'm fortunate not to be on either of the two sides of the national ideological dispute, which allows me to be at ease as a candidate in Minas Gerais to discuss the State's problems."

"That means that, if it's Lula, I will continue discussing how to discuss."

About: coordinate with the federal government to secure resources and policies for Minas Gerais

"We reached the Propai agreement with his team."

"I had numerous meetings with Haddad."

About: coordinate with the federal government to secure resources and policies for Minas Gerais

"I didn't feel bad about having to negotiate with someone who doesn't agree with me ideologically, because... when it comes time to sit at the table as governor of Minas Gerais, the interest of the people of Minas matters."