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DRAFT RESOLUTION NO. 139 /X

(IT MARKS THE 250 YEARS OF THE DEMARCATED REGION OF THE DOURO, AND

IT RECOMMENDS THE GOVERNMENT MEASURES DIRECTED AT THE

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF THAT REGION)

Date of September 10, 1756 the alvará régio that instituted the General Company of the

Agriculture of the Vines of the High Douro, and the consequent demarcation pombalin that

introduced in the world history of wine the modern idea of " designation of origin

controlled , which included not only the definition of geographical boundaries of the wine-growing region,

but also the drafting of a enrollment, of a classification of plots and the

respective wines, taking into account the complexity of the territorial space, at the same

time that were created institutional mechanisms of control and certification of the product,

supported in a vast legislative building.

For this reason the celebrations, during the current year, of the 250 years of the Region

Demarcates of the Douro, the world's first demarcated region, will not be able to let go of

constitute an event of relevant national interest the one that the Assembly of

Republic should associate.

This, however, should have present the complex reality of the region, in all its

strands, in particular their assets and endogenous potential, but also all the

its constraints, blockades and frailties.

Be it through civil society and its representative organizations, of the agents

local economic and social media, from the reports of official studies drawn up along the

recent years and, more recently, through various parliamentary hearings held

in the region itself by the Parliamentary Committee on Economic Affairs, Innovation

Technology and Regional Development, of whose report the Plenary has already had

knowledge and if it is given here by reproduced, it is found that the region of the High Douro

presents indicators of weak economic development, with a population a

impoverished, expressed in a purchasing power lower than in the North region, and close to the

55% of the national every, and there are even concelhos in which it does not reach the 40%.

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Adding that, since the 60, the region, suffers a negative demographic change,

well evidenced in the statistical data of the 90, in which the population loss

was of the order of the 9%, at the same time as the levels of school qualification and

professional are lower than the average North Region and Country.

The economic framework that underlies the current situation presents worrying indicators of

regression. Indeed, it has been witnessing itself over the past few decades.

by collapsing from a dominantly grassroots mode of production and from

subsistence, with low productivity, to which it is not alhemenous to microownership, the

low qualification of human resources and the use of methods and processes

unsuitable productive in the face of current demands.

The companies, predominantly of very small size (micro and small

companies), they present major weaknesses, specifically at the level of management, of the

financial structure, the productive process and marketing.

The phenomenon of economic globalization, the latest, threatens to worsen even more

situation, and may put into question the winemaking economy itself, the social base that

of it depends and even the competitive ability of other alternative activities,

addressed both to the internal market and to the external market. The transformations

operated in recent decades in the national wine economy, in the networks of

marketing, in the evolving international markets for globalization, no

found yet in the region responses adjusted and sustained, both from the point of view

of the training and qualification of their cadres, as of their social organisation,

associative and business.

The traditional logistics of Porto's wine, majority-seated in the Entrepost of

Gaia, donde are exported 89% of the total wines (Doc Porto), should today be

reanalyzed in the light of the new European enlace communication pathways that the region of the

Douro will soon dispose of new information and communication technologies and the

which represents, in wealth, in the row of wine, the storage phase, stocktaking,

certification, quality control, bottling and dispatch, when compared

with the primary stage, i.e. that of the viticulture and vinification, naturally performed in the

region.

But the Douro possesses, too, a huge tourist potential that could come into being,

if well organized, driven and articulated, a sustainable complement to the economy

winery. Its afflicted wines, its quintas, a navigable river with

stunning landscaping attractives, man-made slopes, in an amphitheater

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of socalcos and shale walls, a depolluted environment, a rich gastronomy, a

important historical-cultural heritage, safety, biodiversity, offered in a

tourism product in Rural Space, of Enotourism, Historic-Cultural Tourism, Fluvial

and Railway, in addition to two heritage classified by Unesco-Alto Douro

Vinhateiro and Rupestre Valley of the Côa.

The region still has a strong brand, Douro, which in addition to helping sell the

wine and tourism, as the most important assets, can serve to sell the

excellent olites, the meats of the autochthonous breeds, the filled, the table waters and

terlonger, and the dried fruits, surpassing by that route a current trend towards the

multiplication (and dispersion) of references and certified productions, which does not help the

a strong and sustainable promotion of the products of the region.

But whether the difficulties of the region and its agents are evident, not least relevant

is the performance of the state, which has not always been primed for the best application of the

financial resources available, by the coordination of public investments, and by the

effective and speedy articulation of its spatial planning instruments.

At a time when the Country will again have appreciable community funds,

it is critical that resources are applied in the light of a clear strategy of

support for economic and social development and competitiveness.

The current situation and the demands of the future ask for a new model of intervention that,

in the region, ensure the desirable articulation and efficiency of the public effort, and the

mobilization of the internal and external private initiative.

This region needs, urgently, innovation and efficiency gains from,

among others, of a better articulation of public investments in infrastructure,

of the acceleration of planning processes, evaluation of projects of

investment, business creation, frame-forming, etc., what in the

current circumstances should not be, at least during the next few years,

dependent only on a reform of the public administration of national scope.

Thus, by historical imperatives and of respect for the generations that bequeed us

size heritage, by duty to a region and its gents, which await the signal

and the support, which helps them overcome a reality, as complex as difficult,

associating in this way to the commemoration of the 250 Years of the Institution of the Region

Demarcated from the Douro, the Assembly of the Republic deliberates, in the constitutional terms and

regimental applicable, recommend to the Government that:

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a) Pondere the creation of a structure of coordination, intervention and follow-up

with the aim of ensuring, in interaction with municipalities, a more effective and

efficient State intervention with regard to its tasks and responsibilities, the

at all levels, at NUTS III Douro, aiming specifically at:

1-A The guarantee of the articulated and integrated application of the policies and measures of the

responsibility of the Central, Regional and Local Administration, including the speedy

in the processes involving decisions and licensing of public investments and

private, and monitoring the entire process of development of this territory.

2-A the concretization of the Tourist Valley Tourist Development Plan.

b) Include in the context of the QREN, the Technological Plan, PRIME and future OE,

sector-wide and regional, suitably articulated measures, capable of

mobilise corporate, public and private initiatives, partnerships with centres of

research, poles of higher education, training centres and municipalities, which

contribute to the competitiveness of the territory through the valorisation of its resources

and products.

c) In the process of the reform of public administration and the reorganisation of services

public, under way, the process of desertification in the region is taken into attention.

d) Acelere the realization of the National Road Plan for the region, namely

the construction of IC 26, and promote the requalification of the Douro line.

e) Study the possibility of creating incentives for companies in such a way as to increase the

installed capacity of the wine row of Porto, in the Douro region.

Assembly of the Republic, June 27, 2006.

The Deputies