Brussels, 19/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - Polish Prime Minister Jaroskaw Kaczynski, visiting the Commission on 18 April, was reminded by Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes of Poland's obligations with regard to European rules on state aid. Ms Kroes was referring to the state aid to the Gdynia, Gdansk and Szczecin shipyards.
In 2005, the Commission opened an investigation into the legality of the aid made available to these shipyards (see EUROPE 8959). Restricting itself solely to the aid provided after Poland's accession to the EU, the Commission had doubts over the aid's compliance with the rules on three criteria: - that the aid was to be used to restore long-term viability; - that the companies had made the necessary reductions in capacity to compensate for distortions of competition; - and that beneficiaries' own contributions were sufficient to demonstrate their commitment to restructuring. The response from the Polish authorities, received in September 2006, failed to allay the Commission's concerns (see EUROPE 9258).
Ms Kroes stressed, in particular, that two steps - capacity reductions and privatisation - still had to be taken urgently if the shipyard restructuring was to be successful. Privatisation of the shipyards would, on the one hand, demonstrate the extent of the market's confidence in the ability of the yards to return to viability, and, on the other, would provide the funds necessary for their financial restructuring and indispensable modernisation. Ms Kroes underlined, too, that no strings should be attached to these privatisations, and that the buyers must be free from political interference. She also expressed her concern over the apparent lack of progress on privatisation, and said that the yards had been surviving for years only because of repeated state support. This, she went on, had been creating serious distortions of competition and she called for urgent action to be taken. (cd)