EU mulls Polish shipyard future

The European Commission is considering the future of Poland?s Gdansk shipyard as Warsaw opposes EU demands to cut down the yard?s production capacity. The Baltic Sea Gdansk shipyard faces the EU ultimatum to reduce its three slipways for building ships to only one, or repay state aid funds, mainly provided by the EU.

The Gdansk shipyard went bankrupt back in 1996 but was taken over by the state in 2004, when Poland joined the European Union. The Polish government has rejected EU demands to decrease production capacity of the Gdansk shipyard that Brussels officials say would make the yard more competitive in the international market.

Gdansk shipbuilders plan to stage a protest in Brussels against the EU demands to slash production capacity.