Polish shipyard workers protest in Brussels

Some 300 workers from the ailing Polish shipyards have been protesting in Brussels, demanding their jobs be saved. The European Commission is closely involved in the future of the Gdynia and Szczecin shipyards, both heavily in debt and reeling from the impact of EU competition rules.

Last week, Poland said that it had accepted a salvage plan proposed by competition commissioner Neelie Kroes to rescue the state-owned shipyards. However, sshipyard workers do not agree for the yards liquidation plan proposed by Kroes. She suggested classifying the assets of the yards in Gdynia and Szczecin, selling them in tenders and repaying the debts with the money acquired through liquidating the companies.

According to this scenario the EC would issue a negative decision on the pending case of state aid but implementing the plan would ease the consequences. On the request of Kroes, the Polish government is to submit a separate restructuring plan for the Gdansk yard by the end of the month which is in a better situation than the other two shipyards. It has already been privatized and the amount of state aid received by it is much lower. According to Kroes the submitted plans are unacceptable as they do not guarantee profitability of the troubled yards.