Former governor of Minas Gerais Romeu Zema (Novo) stated this Monday (15) that he is against “buying votes” to obtain parliamentary support and that, when he took over the state, there was not even money available for this type of negotiation. The statement was made during the VEJA Rumos do Brasil Forum, in São Paulo. Zema participated in an interview about the professionalization of public management. "I am against buying votes and, even if I wanted to buy, if I agreed, I had no recourse. And we had to be creative", he stated. Zema said he took over the Minas Gerais government with just three parliamentarians from his party in a Legislative Assembly made up of 77 state deputies and with the state in a difficult financial situation. According to him, the government prepared a list of structural works, such as road repairs, school renovations and completion of hospitals and basic health units, and proposed that the Executive complement the resources allocated by parliamentarians. "On that occasion, we made a menu with all the structuring works in Minas Gerais, hundreds: road repairs, school renovations, completion of hospitals and UBS. And we called each of the parliamentarians and said: 'Deputy, if you put your amendments in these structuring projects, for every million you apply, we will put in two'. And we had a surprising response", he said. The former governor also criticized the current volume of mandatory parliamentary amendments and defended changes in legislation to increase transparency in the allocation of resources. "I am against the current level of mandatory parliamentary amendments, and we need transparency too. So, the legislation has to move forward. Otherwise, we will continue to see these parochial projects, which serve private individuals and not the public interest", he stated. Now on g1