Lisbon, July 2, 2025 (Lusa) - The Portuguese opposition Socialist Party (PS) on Wednesday called for a parliamentary hearing with the Minister of Agriculture on the "unprecedented crisis" facing winegrowers in the northern Douro region, questioning the prime minister about the election promises he made to these 19,000 wine cultivators.
In a statement in the corridors of parliament, PS MP Rui Santos warned that the Douro region is "experiencing an unprecedented crisis", which today led to "a demonstration involving hundreds of cultivators in the town of Peso da Régua".
"We have submitted a draft resolution in which we put forward some proposals and solutions to respond to the state of need in which these farmers live, and today we submitted a request to the Committee on Agriculture and Fisheries, asking the Minister of Agriculture to come to parliament to discuss the issue with us, to talk to us and to let us know what answers he has to this crisis," he announced.
Rui Santos said that during the election campaign, Prime Minister Luís Montenegro "said he would support these wine cultivators" and acknowledged the problem.
"Given this acknowledgement, the Socialist Party wants to know what answers the prime minister has for these 19,000 wine growers," he challenged.
In the draft resolution submitted, the PS recommends that the Government urgently create a financial support line for small and medium-sized wine cultivators in the Douro Demarcated Region to "mitigate the effects of the current crisis in the wine sector".
The Socialists also want a "technical-economic study" to assess "the feasibility of the exclusive use of spirits obtained from the distillation of Douro wines in the production of Port Wine, particularly in years of excess production".
"Strengthen the mechanisms for monitoring wine imports and provide the Douro and Port Wine Institute (IVDP) with the financial and human resources necessary to carry out its duties effectively," suggests the PS, which also wants the financial restrictions on the IVDP to be suspended.
Douro winegrowers demonstrated today in Peso da Régua, a few weeks before a harvest that is expected to be bleak, to warn of the growing difficulties and the viability of the demarcated region.
"We want to make the voice of winegrowers and their main demands heard loud and clear, particularly those aimed at structurally resolving the crisis that has taken hold in the Douro Demarcated Region, namely the ban on buying grapes below production costs," Vítor Rodrigues, leader of the National Confederation of Agriculture (CNA), told the Lusa news agency.
According to the official, wine cultivators "also reject further cuts in the benefit", i.e. the amount of grape must that each producer can use for the production of Port wine.
The Ministry of Agriculture and the Sea today gave assurances that it is preparing structural solutions to "ensure the economic, social and environmental sustainability" of the Douro Demarcated Region, which will be aimed "above all at small producers".
JF/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
