Commissaris Kroes ontmoet Poolse vakbonden om staatsteun scheepswerven te bespreken (en)

European Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes met representatives of the trade unions on behalf of workers at the shipyards in Gdynia, Gdansk and Szczecin (Poland) at the Commission's Brussels headquarters on 25^th June.

Commissioner Kroes underlined that, under EC state aid rules, the restructuring plans due to be presented by the Polish authorities for the shipyards must:

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  (i) ensure the long-term profitability of the shipyards
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  (ii) include adequate compensatory measures to limit the distortion of competition caused by the aid and
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  (iii) be financed to a large extent from the companies' own resources.

Commissioner Kroes made clear that unless the plans to be presented by the Polish authorities comply in full with the above requirements, she would have no option but to propose to the Commission to adopt negative decisions concerning the aid granted to the yards and to require the repayment of the state aid received.

The Commission has been examining state aids for the shipyards at Gdynia, Szszecin and Gdansk since 2004 and opened its formal investigation on 1^st June 2005 (see IP/05/644).

Commissioner Kroes underlined that the Commission's objective was to ensure sustainable jobs in Gdynia, Gdansk and Szczecin, and regretted that since 2004 the Polish authorities has not submitted viable restructuring plans.

The Commission has to apply the same approach to the Polish shipyards as to shipyards in other Member States. The European shipbuilding sector went through a painful process of restructuring in the 1990s. For example, similar strict conditions were applied in the restructuring of German shipyards accompanied by a significant reduction of shipbuilding capacity. The German yards are now economically viable.