Cemig, Copasa and Codemig: Lula’s minister evaluates proposal to federalize state-owned companies in Minas Gerais

Minister Alexandre Padilha (PT), head of the Institutional Relations Secretariat of the Lula government, stated this Thursday (28), in an exclusive interview with Itatiaia, that the federal government’s technical teams intend to evaluate the possible federalization of state-owned companies in Minas Gerais, such as Cemig, Copasa and Codemig.

The federalization proposal will be part of the project to renegotiate state debts with the Union, which was presented by minister Fernando Haddad (PT) to the governors on Tuesday (26), in Brasília. The government’s intention is for states to exchange interest reductions on their debts for investments in vocational education.

Asked about the possibility of federalizing Cemig, Copasa and Codemig, minister Alexandre Padilha stated that he considers it important that these companies be maintained as public assets.

See more: Government proposes to reduce interest on state debts with investments in education

“These are very valuable assets of the people of Minas Gerais. The assets of Minas Gerais have a very important public function, they are assets that can be presented in this new debt negotiation. Maybe they are just shareholdings, not total participation. It will depend on what the state presents. These assets could reduce the volume of debt, imagine keeping this as public assets and gaining more free resources from the state to invest in vocational education”, explained Padilha.

Analysis in the states

It will be up to state governments to assess the interest in federalizing their state-owned companies in exchange for reducing debts with the Union, a measure that has already been received positive signaling from Governor Romeu Zema (Novo).

In November last year, after a meeting at the Ministry of Finance, Zema said he was in favor of the proposal. “There has always been a willingness to sell these assets to the private sector. Nothing prevents federalization from taking place, obviously, in better conditions for the state as a way of paying the debt”, said the governor

The Lula government minister, however, stated that the evaluation of assets that could be federalized will already be included in conversations about the preparation of the debt renegotiation project.

“Certainly, in the bilateral conversations that we will have in the federal government to detail the proposal, the negotiation of assets is a topic that can now be analyzed. In the final formatting of the proposal, we will evaluate the assets, the way in which the values will be calculated, so that we can evaluate in practice the inclusion of assets in the renegotiation”, said Padilha.

“Minas Gerais’ assets can be part of the negotiation, which keeps them as public assets, which is important, and there are other assets that can also be negotiated, with receivables, for example from mining, which Minas has to receive”, he concluded. the Minister of Institutional Relations of the Lula government.