| Aécio Neves da Cunha | |
 Governor Aécio Neves |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 1, 2003 |
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| Preceded by | Itamar Franco |
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| Born | March 10, 1960 Belo Horizonte |
| Political party | PSDB |
Aécio Neves da Cunha is a Brazilian economist and politician; he has been the governor of the state of Minas Gerais since 2003. Born in Belo Horizonte, on March 10, 1960, he is the youngest governor in the state's history. He began his political career working with his grandfather, Tancredo Neves, who was elected president of Brazil in 1985 (but who died before taking office). Aecio Neves served four terms as an elected Deputy in the Brazilian Federal Chamber of Deputies between 1986 and 2002, representing the Social Democracy Party (PSDB). He was the President of the Chamber of Deputies in 2001/2.
As governor, Aecio Neves introduced the "Management Shock": a set of sweeping reforms designed to bring the state budget under control by reducing government expenditure and promoting investment. The policy has been widely perceived as a success nationally and internationally and Aecio Neves has enjoyed high levels of popularity in office, despite some criticism for a playboy personal life. Having been tipped as a potential candidate for the Brazilian Presidential elections in 2010, Neves announced his intention to stand aside from the race at the end of 2009.[1].
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Contents
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Early Years
Family Background
Both Aecio Neves' father and mother come from established political families in Minas Gerais. His maternal grandfather, Tancredo Neves, came from a leading family in the town of São Joao del Rei in the south of the state.
His paternal grandfather, Tristão Ferreira da Cunha, a native of Teófilo Otoni, a northern city in Minas Gerais, was also a politician as well as a lawyer and a professor. He was Secretary of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce in the state government of Juscelino Kubitschek (1951 - 1955).
Aécio Cunha, son of Tristão and father of Aécio, was state deputy between 1955 and 1963 and federal representative between 1963 and 1987. Despite being adversaries, Tancredo Neves (MDB Party) and his son-in-law Aécio Cunha (ARENA Party) were friends and shared an apartment in Brasilia for 18 years.
Education and Early Career
Aecio Neves graduated in economy from the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais. His first professional experience was as Cabinet Official of the Economic Defense Administrative Council of the Ministry of Justice in Rio de Janeiro.
Political career
Secretary to Tancredo Neves
Aecio Neves took part the campaign of his grandfather Tancredo, elected Governor of Minas Gerais in 1982, and occupied the post of Personal Secretary of the Governor of Minas Gerais in 1983.
In the following years, he participated in the campaign "Diretas Já" (‘Direct [Elections] Now’), for direct elections of the president and, later, in the campaign of his grandfather for the Presidency of Republic. In 1985, Tancredo Neves won the elections for President, obtaining 480 votes in the Electoral College. Following the election, Aécio Neves accompanied his grandfather in visits to Ronald Reagan (United States), François Miterrand (France), Sandro Pertini and Bettino Craxi (Italy), to King Juan Carlos (Spain) and to Pope John Paul II (the Vatican).
Aécio Neves was to have occupied, after the investiture of the new President, the position of Secretary of Special Subjects of the Presidency of the Republic, but Tancredo died on April 21, 1985. Aécio and all the others indicated for the Ministry resigned their positions, so that the new President, Jose Sarney, could compose his Government.
Federal deputy (1986-2002)
Aécio Neves represented the state of Minas Gerais in the Federal House of Representatives for four terms.
The encouragement of the family, especially of his grandmother, Risoleta Neves, was essential to the start of Neves' political career. The launching of his first candidacy was announced exactly a year after the death of his grandfather. In his meetings, he attracted many young people that previously had not been interested in politics. As a candidate for Federal Deputy he won the highest number of votes ever recorded in the State, with 236,019 votes.
First Federal Deputy Term
In his first term (1986-1990) he participated in the Constituent National Assembly to determine the text of the new Federal Constitution. He occupied the position of Vice-President of the Commission of Sovereignty and Rights and of the Guarantees of Man and Woman, He also presented a proposal that led to the lowering of the voting age to 16.
Second Federal Deputy Term (1990-1994)
In his second federal deputy term, Aécio Neves participated in the campaign of Mário Covas (PSDB) for the Presidency and was the vice-leader of the PSDB in the House of Representatives.
Fernando Collor de Mello was elected president in 1990. Two years after the elections Collor faced a process of impeachment and Aécio Neves voted in favor of the exit of the president. Itamar Franco, the vice-leader for Collor, assumed the Presidency of the Republic.
Aécio Neves Stood as mayor of Belo Horizonte, but was not elected.
Third federal deputy term (1994-1998)
After being elected, Aécio Neves occupied the position of the third-secretary of the Federal Chamber. In the same year (1995), he was chosen to be the president of the PSDB in Minas Gerais.
He made his first major entry on the national stage when he won the contest for the leadership of the PSDB in the Chamber.
Fourth federal deputy term (1998-2002)
In 1998, he resigend the presidency of the PSDB of Minas Gerais, and stood for federal deputy for the 4th consecutive time. He won the most votes of any PSDB candidate in the country (185,050) and was the Deputy with the largest number of votes.
In 2001, he was elected as the President (Speaker) of the Chamber of Deputies with more votes than the sum of all the other candidates. He developed an "ethics package” which ended parliamentarian's immunity for common crimes.
Governor of Minas Gerais (2002-present)
In 2002, Aécio Neves was elected in the first round as the Governor of the state of Minas Gerais with more than five million votes. He was re-elected in 2006 with 7,482,809 votes, 77,03% of the total. In 2005 and 2006, in research carried out by the MACROPLAN Institute, Brazilians journalists idenitfied Aécio Neves as the best governor of the country. He enjoyed a popular approval level of 77% in March 2009, according to research by the DATAFOLHA Institute (Folha de São Paulo newspaper).[2]
Management Shock Policy
At the time of Aecio Neves' appointment, the state government of Minas Gerais faced a growing debt of more than 200 million Brazilian reais per month. In order to do away with this situation, Neves introduced the "management shock": a set of measures intended to re-organise and modernise the state, to reduce and rationalise the costs of Government, to improve the quality of services, and to re-establish conditions for external investment. As a symbolic act to consolidate commitment to the reorganisation of the accounts of Minas Gerais, Aécio Neves reduced his salary by 45%, and asked the same of the first level members of the Government. His project generated an enormous reduction in the costs of the state.
The administrative regional ministries were reduced from 21 to 15, and 43 supervisorial posts and 16 control positions were abolished. Also 3,000 positions under direct appointment from the Governor were eliminated. In building his team of advisors, Aécio Neves focused on hiring competent, university-educated and technical professionals who could provide austere and rigid administration for a state that could not pay its accounts.[3]
In November 2004, Aécio Neves announced a "zero deficit" in the state accounts. This made possible more effective public administration, with programmes directed towards all areas of the administration. Aécio Neves invited the architect Oscar Niemeyer to design a new Administrative campus for the Government, destined to concentrate and to modernize the management of public services.
With new financial stability, Minas Gerais was - for the first time in 14 years - able to raise loans in the international market. The first loan was used for the 'Combating Rural Poverty' Project (PCPR), intended to increase income and quality of life in 180 communities with lower Human Development Indices (IDH). The success and the efficiency of this program, from which 75,000 families benefited, qualified the state to receive more investments from the World Bank.
With the proven success of the Management Shock policy, in August 2008 the World Bank approved a loan of one billion dollars for the state, without requiring financial guarantees. In announcing the loan, John Briscoe, Director of the World Bank in Brazil said, "The broad political and social consensus around fiscal responsibility is a big step forward for Brazil. The next big challenge is to significantly improve the quality of the high levels of public spending. During the last five years, Minas Gerais has shown how this can be done. Many other governors are looking to adopt this model.[4].
In 2008, Governor Aécio Neves was invited to present the results of his programme for Minas Gerais at a meeting of the World Bank in Washington.
The management of Aécio Neves in Minas Gerais has also been used as a model in other Brazilian states. The Governments of Sao Paulo, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul and Mato Grosso have adopted elements of the "Management Shock” approach.
Policing
In 2003, Minas Gerais was the first state in the country to promote the integration of the activities of the military police (responsible for maintaining public order)and the civil police (responsible for criminal investigations). Other actions included the hiring of nine thousand new policemen, the renovation of the fleet of vehicles, the creation of integrated police stations and the integration of the system of intelligence of the two police forces. These, combined with a public awareness programme, "Fica Vivo!" ("Stay Alive!"), designed to reduce levels of homicide, all contributed to a reduction of 60% in incidents in high risk areas of metropolitan Belo Horizonte[5].
Education
In education, the Government of Minas Gerais was the first in Brazil to extend basic education from eight to nine years and the first to distribute free school text books[5].
Transport: Green Line
In 2005, the "Green line" project began: the most significant set of improvements to Belo Horizonte's road system in decades. The centrepiece of the has been the construction of a 35.4 km rapid transit system fom metropolitan Belo Horizonte to international airport Tancredo Neves[6]. The airport, which was opened in 1983 is located 40 km outside the city near Confins(and is widely referred to as Confins), and for many years had been underused due to its inaccessibility from the centre[7]. The Green Line - cominbed with an aggressive policy to force airlines to use Confins instead of the suburban Pampulha airport - has been a success in increasing the number of passengers using Confins[8]. The Green Line also aims to improve traffic flows across large parts of the metropolitan and greater Belo Horizonte area.
Potential Candidacy for Presidency
Aecio Neves had been widely indicated as a possible candidate for the PSDB party for the 2010 presidential elections, but was ultimately forced to stand aside in favour of Jose Serra, the Governor of São Paulo state. Neves' has announced that he will not serve as Serra's deputy and analysts have speculated that he will bid instead for a Senate seat. [9] [10][11].
Family
Aécio Neves is divorced. He was married for eight years to the lawyer Andréa Falcão, with whom he has one daughter, Gabriela, born in 1992[12].
References
- ^ "Aécio Neves - A Political Heir Apparent". Latin Trade. 2009-06-01. http://latintrade.com/2009/06/aecio-neves-a-political-heir-apparent/. Retrieved 19 July 2009.
- ^ Datafolha: Aécio lidera ranking de governadores
- ^ Shock Management
- ^ "Minas Gerais and the World Bank sign loan of US$ 976 million to improve quality of public sector management" (in Portuguese). World Bank Website. 2008-08-13. http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/HOMEPORTUGUESE/EXTPAISES/EXTLACINPOR/BRAZILINPOREXTN/0,,contentMDK:21871953~menuPK:3817195~pagePK:2865066~piPK:2865079~theSitePK:3817167,00.html/. Retrieved 19 July 2009.
- ^ a b "Biografia do governador Aécio Neves [Biography of Governor Aécio Neves]" (in Portuguese). Minas Online Portal. 2008-12-23. http://www.mg.gov.br/portalmg/do/governador?op=estruturaConteudo&coConteudo=62906. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
- ^ ""LINHA VERDE - O maior conjunto de obras em Belo Horizonte" [The Green Line: The biggest set of works in Belo Horizonte]" (in Portugues). Sociedade Mineira de Engenheiros. 2009-06-01. http://www.sme.org.br/html/sessao_48/2009/06/01/noticias/id_sessao=48&id_noticia=236/noticias.shtml. Retrieved 1 August 2009.
- ^ ""Companhias aéreas querem voltar para Pampulha" [Airline Companies want to return to Pampulha]" (in Portugues). Direto da Pista blog. 2008-08-05. http://diretodapista.blogspot.com/2008/08/companhias-areas-querem-voltar-para.html. Retrieved 1 August 2009.
- ^ "Companhias aéreas querem voltar para Pampulha [Airline Companies want to return to Pampulha]" (in Portugues). Direto da Pista blog. 2008-08-05. http://diretodapista.blogspot.com/2008/08/companhias-areas-querem-voltar-para.html. Retrieved 1 August 2009.
- ^ "Aécio Neves - A Political Heir Apparent". Latin Trade. 2009-06-01. http://latintrade.com/2009/06/aecio-neves-a-political-heir-apparent/. Retrieved 01 August 2009.
- ^ "Serra closer to Brazil candidacy as rival quits". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BG4U520091217.
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Aécio Neves at the Debut of his only daughter" (in Portuguese). Caras Magazine. Undated. http://www.caras.com.br/edicoes/668/textos/aecio-neves-no-debut-da-unica-filha//. Retrieved 21 July 2009.
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Itamar Franco |
Governor of Minas Gerais 2003– |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
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