Today, the Federação Renovação do Douro was heard by the Agriculture and Fisheries Committee in the Assembly of the Republic in Lisbon, where it spoke of the difficulties foreseen for the 2024 grape harvest and about the process of re-establishing the Casa do Douro as a public association with mandatory registration.

The organisation highlighted difficulties selling grapes, falling grape prices and excess wine 'stock' as some of the key issues, and proposed measures such as green harvesting, distillation of excess wine into wine spirit to be incorporated into Port or Moscatel, and restrictions on the entry of bulk wines into the region.

During the hearing, PSD deputy Amílcar Almeida also proposed the adoption of certain measures, such as "an agreement between production and trade that guarantees a basic income per hectare, defining quantities to be produced and prices".

"This would allow for some predictability and stability to enable a greater balance between supply and demand, with the subsequent increase in the value of grapes", he stressed, also questioning how "it is possible for millions of litres of must and wines from outside the Douro region to enter the region", and "where are the controls and inspections".

Socialist Carlos Silva recalled that, in the previous legislature, the PS sought to correct the way in which production is represented, giving it greater strength with the re-establishment of the Casa do Douro.

"A situation that is important for the current Government to now regulate quickly, in compliance with the legally established deadlines", he emphasised.

The re-establishment of the Casa do Douro as a public association with mandatory registration was approved in parliament in January, with votes in favour from the PS, PCP, BE and then social democrat deputy Soveral de Andrade.

The 120-day period for preparing the electoral act for the body has been running since 28 April, after the publication of the new law in the Official Gazette.

For Chega, Nuno Gabriel considered that the reinstatement of mandatory registration with the Casa do Douro "clearly violates the principle of freedom of association provided for in the Constitution, and also represents interference by the State in this sector".

"In addition, this creates a certain air of Sovietisation of this subject", he said, questioning whether "there is widespread desire among wine growers to return to the public sphere".

Mário Lopes of the IL argued that, with the drop in wine sales, the sector needs to be reorganised to enable it to recover.

"The previous Government thought this could be achieved by returning to a corporatist model from the Estado Novo, in which there was a public association with mandatory registration, as if this would be a safeguard or a way to recover the sector. In short, it is not a solution for anything, it does not resolve any problems and, in addition, it violates the free right of association", he pointed out.

The Livre deputy, Jorge Pinto, asked questions related to the modernisation of viticulture in the Douro and about which measures the producers believe should be implemented by the Government.

"And how can we political parties help and, in particular, how can we ensure that the support goes above all to small producers who are always the most exposed to these losses?", he added.

Finally, João Almeida said that the CDS-PP had sought the best solution for the Douro, considered that "unfortunately, to date, a satisfactory solution has not been reached for the problems in the region", wanted to know the outlook for the next grape harvest and on the marketing of wines, and asked "to what extent distillation makes sense", a resource solution that "implies new costs".

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