Brussels, 25/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - At a meeting with union representatives of the shipyards of Gdansk, Gdynia and Szczecin on Wednesday 25 June, the Commissioner for Competition, Neelie Kroes, once more stressed the need for these shipyards to be restructured. If the Commissioner does not receive any viable plans before the end of Thursday 26 June, she said that she would "have no option but to adopt negative decisions concerning the aid granted to the yards and to require the repayment of the State aid received", according to a press release published the same day.
The provisional plans examined by the Commission in recent weeks are not in line with Community rules. The Commissioner points out that they must: -ensure the long-term profitability of the shipyards; - include adequate compensatory measures to limit the distortion of competition caused by the aid; - be financed to a large extent from the companies' own resources. This is a bitter pill to swallow for anyone interested in buying up struggling shipyards. "We have an enormous problem", explained the Polish Minister for the Budget, Aleksander Grad, speaking before union staff and leaders of the shipyards in Gdynia on 24 June. The Minister is seeking a solution to reconcile the various interests, ahead of the cut-off date of 26 June.
According to a source close to the minister, one solution would be for the Ukrainian investor Donbass, already the owner of the Gdansk yard, to acquire the Gdynia shipyard, some 15 km away, as well. The Gdansk shipyard, which is politically sensitive due to having been the cradle of the movement SolidarnoϾ, may be spared the initial reductions of capacity, which may be concentrated in Gdynia. This solution "would not raise any problems for us", said the spokesperson to Ms Kroes, Jonathan Todd, who stressed that the most important thing is for the overall impact on competition to be mitigated.
The shipyards have been in the Commission's sights since Poland joined the European Union in 2004. If the Polish authorities fail to communicate a structuring plan to the Commission by no later than 26 June, the total of illegal aid which they would be obliged to pay back would be in excess of one billion euros. "We would never be to pay this sum back", said Andrzej Bartoszewicz, a member of the board of administration of the shipyard. (C.D/trans.fl.)