Brussels, 14/07/2008 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has confirmed that it has received, within the deadline, the final version of the proposal for restructuring the Gdansk, Gdynia and Szczecin shipyards. The Commission is still not convinced that this operation conforms to European rules on state aid.
Jonathan Todd, the spokesman for Competition Commissioner, Neelie Kroes, declared on Monday 14 July to the press that the Commission would be analysing the documents received on 10 July around 21H30, in view of making a decision, “early next week”. If the Commission does not find, “any concrete changes to what has already been notified”, it may call on Warsaw to recover any state aid paid to shipyards since 2004, despite the risks of bankruptcy to the companies affected. According to a source at the Polish ministry of the treasury, the stumbling block involves the proportion of private investment. The Commission believes that the latter should be at least 50% of the capital but possible investors, including the Polish subsidiary of the Ukrainian industrial group, Donbass, regard this figure as too high.
The Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, indicated that he would appeal to the Council in the event of a Commission refusal. Mr Todd pointed out that according to article 88 (2) of the EU treaty, such a procedure can only begin “if there is no Commission decision” and that any Council decision in this kind of affair has to be decided at unanimity. Todd also indicated that he had not received any confirmation of any communication with the Council in this connection. On the other hand, the Polish authorities have written to the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, asking him to kindly extend the deadline to update the draft on shipyard restructuring modalities. A Commission spokesperson would only point out that Mr Barroso had indeed received this letter. The Commission and Poland have been debating this case for four years. The spokesman for the Competition Commissioner affirmed that, “four years is a very long time. So I think nobody can accuse the Commission of not giving ample opportunity to the Polish authorities to find a viable outcome”.
According to the Polish press, Warsaw is seeking to use its position with regard to the Lisbon treaty. The Polish foreign affairs minister, Radoslaw Sikorski therefore declared on Saturday 12 July that, “The EC should know that president Kaczynski will take his decision on ratification of the treaty in a political context. For the public opinion, these two issues have a European context even though they are not related in legal terms”. Several Polish newspapers saw this as a way of putting pressure on the Commission but on Monday 14 July Mr Sikorski strongly denied that this involved an attempt to blackmail. He informed several newspapers that Poland, “has never intended to make a link ,nor does it intend to” make one between these cases. The Commission spokesperson, Johannes Laitenberger told the press that he was aware of such a link but then stressed that the Commission's decision on the yards depended on what was involved in the case, adding, “the Commission should behave as stipulated in the treaty. (C.D./trans/rh)