In the spotlight: Poland's ailing shipyards

The agreements - the result of workers' demands for better working conditions and social rights - gave rise to the Solidarity labor union.

There was not much cause to rejoice during the anniversary, however, as the future of the Polish ship-building industry is shrouded in uncertainty. By the end of this week, a restructuring plan for the ailing state-owned Szczecin and Gdynia and the privatized Gdańsk shipyards has to be submitted with the European Commission. Earlier this year, the EC stated that the shipyards would have to repay billions of euro that they had received as state aid in violation of EU competition laws.

The historic shipyards thus face bankrupcy, unless a viable restructuring plan is presented. The yards in Szczecin and Gdynia, in particular, have seen heavy losses recently and are deeply indebted.

The issue was hotly debated in the Sejm last week, with the current government accusing its Law and Justice-led predecessor of negligence with regard to reform of the ship-building industry. This accusation includes a claim that a broad privatization offer was turned down last year. The Civic Platform government is also threatening to bring former Treasury Minister Wojciech Jasiński before the State Tribunal over the issue.

Current Treasury Minister Aleksander Grad, for his part, claimed the restructuring plan to be submitted this week had a chance to succeed and that there had been a breakthrough in talks with potential investors for the Gdynia and Szczecin shipyards.

Ukraine's Industrial Union of Donbass, the owner of the Gdańsk shipyard, was said to be interested in buying the Gdynia Shipyard, while Polish-Norwegian consortium Mostostal Chojnice-Ulstein has expressed interest in the Szczecin Shipyard. According to Grad, however, the two shipyards will need hundreds of millions of złotys of additional public aid, regardless of any privatization plans.