CCDR-N

What is CCDR-N?
Inter-Regional and Cross-Border Cooperation
Strategic Planning
Promotion of the Environment and Territorial Management
Regional Investment
Organisation Chart

 

What is CCDR-N?

The North Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR-N) is a decentralised body of central government. Its mission is to promote the conditions permitting the integrated and sustainable development of Portugal North Region (NUT II), thereby contributing to the national cohesion.

CCDR-N, a body which has administrative and financial autonomy, is tasked with coordinating and promoting, in the Portuguese North Region, governmental policies with regard to Regional Planning and Development, Environment, Land Management, Inter-Regional and Cross-Border Cooperation and also support Local Government and Inter-Municipal Associations. The body’s fields of intervention also encompasses the management of regional operational programmes financed by European Union (EU) funds supplied to provide support to Portugal, as well as other regional development finance instruments.

In accordance with its legally-defined attributions, it is CCDR-N’s aim to contribute to the modernisation and democratisation of the Portuguese State, through the promotion of the active participation of the most significant public and private economic players and sectors in local and regional development. The Regional Council of CCDR-N – on which the region’s 86 municipalities, decentralised bodies, universities and polytechnics, environmental non-governmental organisations, employers’ and employees’ trade unions, as well as many others, are all represented – accomplishes this task of strategic harmonisation at the regional level in a very specific manner.

 

Inter-Regional and Cross-Border Cooperation

CCDR-N's intervention in the field of inter-regional and cross-border cooperation constitutes an innovative duty, which started at the beginning of the nineteen eighties, and has now become an important source of knowledge and experience. The Euro-regional position of the North of Portugal and Galicia, which has been built up since then, is one of the most evident examples of that vocation.

Cooperation between North Portugal and its bordering regions, Galicia and Castilla y León, was made official through the founding of the Galicia – Portugal North Region Work Community, in 1991, and the Portugal North Region – Castilla y León Work Community, in 2000. The principal objective of these Work Communities consists in liaising regional development strategies and developing dialogue and partnerships between municipalities, public institutions and economic players, in order to provide greater territorial integration and competitiveness.

The Galicia –Portugal North Region Work Community has instigated projects of cross-border accessibility, environment and natural resources, risk capital and entrepreneurial ventures, motor vehicles and culture fields. Today, strategic cooperation in relation to the sea, between research centres, business areas and firms, is put in perspective for the near future. The most notable activities of the Portugal NorthRegion – Castilla y León Work Community encompass the joint valorisation and promotion of the Douro/Duero Valley and the common objective of attracting business investment to the border area.

On an inter-regional level, CCDR-N forms part of and intervenes in important external cooperation institutions such as the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions and its Atlantic Arc Commission, and the European Winemaking Regions’ Assembly.

 

Strategic Planning

One of the most relevant examples of strategic planning carried out by CCDR-N is the “NORTE 2015” public initiative, founded in partnership with the Regional Council, in 2005. The objective of this initiative was to define a new vision and strategy for the development of the region. A broad range of public and institutional bodies participated in NORTE 2015 and it resulted in a proposal of the principal priorities and public policy instruments for the 2007 - 2013 National Strategic Reference Framework.

1. Strategic Vision:
   In 2015, the North Region will be capable of generating a level of production of transactionable goods and services that will allow it to retake the trend of convergence to European levels, ensuring, in a sustainable manner, increases in output and in employment for the region’s population, thereby promoting, through these means, economic, social and territorial union.

Strategic Priorities:
- To promote the technological intensification of the regional production base;
- To guarantee, in a sustainable way, regional competitiveness;
- To promote social and territorial inclusion.

To identify the fundamental regional development projects in the context of these priorities and vision, CCDR-N has been promoting complementary planning, reflection and debating initiatives. NORTE 2015 is on the internet, at www.norte2015.com.pt.

The definition of the Regional Land Management Plan (PROT) and the implementation of the Institute for the Development of Knowledge and Economics of the Sea, based around a partnership with Porto University, are other strategically-orientated initiatives of CCDR-N.

 

Promotion of the Environment and Territorial Management

In the context of the promotion of a sustainable development in the Portuguese North Region, CCDR-N is responsible for important duties connected to land management, as factors of regional valorisation, and is also responsible for the classification of the environment and for the defence of natural resources.

The drafting of Regional Plan of Territorial Management and its implementation will be a decisive contribution to providing the region with a strategic, coherent and modern instrument for the integrated management, classification and promotion of its territory. This objective is related to the monitoring of other territorial management instruments, such as municipal master plans.

In addition to many other activities, the services of CCDR-N also dedicate themselves to National Ecological Reserves, National Agricultural Reserves and to the NATURA 2000 Network. They also participate in environmental impact assessment processes, industrial activity licensing and processes regarding the use of water. These services also perform air and water quality monitoring as well as noise and waste monitoring.

They also perform different types of technical, monitoring and surveillance cooperation activities, transversing all of these fields.

 

Regional Investment

CCDR-N’s experience in the management of EU funds began in the period prior to Portugal joining the then-called European Economic Community (EEC), and it was consolidated through the management of Community Support Frameworks (CSF). Between 2000 and 2006, CCDR-N is the responsible entity for the management of Portugal North Region Operational Programme (ON – Operação Norte), cross-border cooperation sub-programmes and also URBAN 2 Porto-Gondomar Community Programme Initiative, which involves an investment that surpasses five billion euros.

In 2005, ON – Operação Norte received the biggest amount of funds for CSF III (153 million euros) as a result of its “Very Efficient” performance.  In financial terms, the Light Railway System of the Porto Metropolitan Area (Metro do Porto) is the programme’s largest project.

Between 2007 and 2013, the period during which a new cycle of structural funds will be initiated by the European Union, CCDR-N will manage the new Portugal North Region Operational Programme, integrated into the National Strategic Reference Framework.

This recognition of the North Region and Portugal’s capacity to manage EU funds has led CCDR-N to be selected as a Management Authority of the Atlantic Space Trans-national Cooperation Programme for 2007-2013. The programme will contribute to the maritime valorisation of the Atlantic coastline and the promotion of new clusters of economic activity, significant research & development initiatives and new access and logistics, environmental and sustainable urban development conditions.

 

Organisation Chart

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