Poles urge EU to save Gdansk shipyard

Former leader of Poland’s Solidarity trade union Lech Walesa has condemned an attempt by the EU to close most of the Gdansk shipyard. “The European Union should help us to bring efficiency to the shipyard, and we should not lose it as part of some stupid political game,” Walesa has said.

But EU investigations launched in June 2005 have revealed that Polish shipyards have enjoyed state aid, illegal under EU law, worth at least ?1.3 billion since Poland joined the EU in 2004. Neelie Kroes, the EU’s competition commissioner, recently accepted capacity cuts at Poland’s Gdynia and Szczecin shipyards in return for past state aid but she said in July that the solution proposed for Gdansk was not acceptable.

Mrs Kroes gave the Polish government an ultimatum of submitting further information before 20 August or reimburse already given aid. Pawel Poncyliusz, Poland’s deputy minister of the economy responsible for shipyards, said that would mean bankruptcy since the yard doesn’t have the resources to pay that kind of money.

The confrontation with Brussels over the legendary shipyard comes at a highly heated political time for Poland. Polish officials confirmed that the Polish government will hold elections this autumn, two years ahead of schedule, with 21 October mentioned as a likely date.