EU insists that Gdansk yards must be restructured

(STRASBOURG) - The European Commission insisted Tuesday that the Gdansk shipyard be restructured but underlined that it did not want to force the birthplace of Poland's Solidarity trade union movement to close.

The Commission, the European Union's competition watchdog, said it was obliged to ensure that rules on state aid to enterprises were respected and that a level-playing field was available for all in the shipyard market.

"The Commission is not seeking the closure of the Gdansk shipyard," EU Internal Markets Commissioner Charlie McCreevy told members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, some with Solidarity flags posted on their tables.

"We would like to see the yard undertake a genuine, far-reaching restructuring so as to become a successful company capable of competing on its own merits in the EU and world shipbuilding market," he said.

Brussels has demanded that two of the yard's remaining three slipways be closed but, with hundreds of jobs at stake, Poland has said that it would only shut down one.

If Warsaw were to fail to appease its concerns, the Commission could order past state aid to be reimbursed, threatening the shipyard's future.

With just 3,000 workers today, compared to some 17,000 in 1980, the Gdansk yard is a shadow of the Lenin Shipyard site where a strike by workers in August 1980 led to the formation of the communist bloc's first free trade union.

McCreevy said Warsaw only had itself to blame for the problem.

"The proper restructuring of the Gdansk shipyard has been postponed for many years," he said.

"Public money has not been used to create valuable jobs but to keep alive a company that would under normal market conditions have ceased to exist."

Bronislaw Geremek, one of the intellectuals behind the Solidarity movement, urged the Commission to consider shutting down just one slipway and underlined the importance of the yard to Europe's history.

"At this juncture we should at least limit the closure of slipways to one, so that the shipyard can actually be viable. We should give it time to streamline management," he said.

"We must bear in mind that the shipyard is critical for the history of Europe. this is where social values were recognised, which are central for Europe," he went on.

"The strength of Europe rests on our ability to be innovative and competitive but also sensitive to the fate of those who are less fortunate."

The dispute saw about 100 Gdansk workers travel to Brussels last week to protest against the restructuring in front of the Commission's headquarters.