Shipyard restructuring plan rejected

The European Commission announced last Thursday that state aid granted to the Szczecin and Gdynia shipyards was illegal and must be repaid. It also gave Poland until the end of May 2009 to sell off the shipyards.

Warsaw and Brussels have been going back and forth for years over approximately €2.3 (zł.8.3) billion in illegal state aid granted to the three shipyards.

The EC has agreed to Poland's commitment to sell the Szczecin and Gdynia shipyard assets "through a series of open, transparent, non-discriminatory and unconditional tenders," said EU Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes.

The move will allow the sites to remain economically active, according to Kroes, but possibly in an industry other than shipbuilding. "The proceeds from the asset sales will be used to repay the yards' creditors and to repay the unlawful aid to the state," she said. "Companies acquiring the assets will not be liable to repay the illegal subsidies, even if they choose to continue shipbuilding," she added.

Treasury Minister Aleksander Grad said that he was happy with the EC's decision. "I would like to thank everyone who has supported and worked on this decision because today, thanks to this work, we don't have a negative decision, but rather a decision in which we can peacefully continue with privatization," he told journalists.

Meanwhile, a final decision regarding the Gdańsk shipyard has not been made. Because the shipyard has already been privatized, the amount of subsidies it received were lower and its investor has already made investments. Kroes said that the EC would study any Gdańsk-specific restructuring plan once it was submitted.

Mostostal Chojnice and ISD Polska said that they were still interested in participating in the privatization of the Gdynia and Szczecin shipyards.