EU to approve aid plan for historic Gdansk shipyard

(BRUSSELS) - Poland's Gdansk shipyard, cradle of the Solidarity trade union that rebelled against communist power, appeared set for a viable future Tuesday as the EU said it would authorise restructuring plans.

EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said some points still had to be verified but added that she was confident that the long-term future of the Gdansk shipyard could be secured after five years of haggling with Warsaw.

"The new restructuring plan will restore long-term viability to the Gdansk shipyard," Kroes said at a joint press conference in Brussels with Polish Treasury Minister Aleksander Grad.

She said she hoped the commission, the EU's executive arm, would be able to take "a positive decision" before the summer holidays after the last outstanding issues are addressed.

In an irony of history, the Gdansk shipyard has been a victim of its own political role in freeing Poland from communism, which gives it huge symbolic importance for Poles.

Gdansk was sold to Ukrainian group Donbass in 2007, but Brussels and Warsaw have before and since argued over the level of state aid involved in keeping the shipyard afloat.

Brussels opened an enquiry in 2005 into public aid handed over to Poland's three major shipyards, Gdansk, Gdynia and Szczecin, all on the country's northern Baltic coast.

Last November, the European Commission, which polices competition rules in the 27-nation European Union, ordered Poland to sell the two other yards, after ruling that Warsaw had doled out illegal state aid to keep them in business.

Last week Poland announced the successful sale of most of the assets of Gdynia and Szczecin to Middle East-backed United International Trust for a total of 364 million zlotys (82 million euros, 115 million dollars).

Brussels is examining the way those sales were carried out and awaiting financial reports from the Polish side, Kroes said.

Gdansk is in a different situation from the other two shipyards since it has already been privatised, is smaller and has received less state aid, she said.

"For the first time in five years... I am confident that if a couple of technical issues are sorted out I would soon be in a position to propose to my colleagues a positive response to the restructuring," Kroes said.

Grad thanked Kroes for her work and "excellent cooperation".

"This announcement of a future positive decision is very welcome," he said.

"It allows us to say that soon, and for good, this company will become profitable," he added.

In 1980 the Gdansk shipyard on Poland's Baltic Sea coast was the breeding ground for the militant Solidarity trade union, the first and only one of its kind in the entire Soviet bloc.

A subsequent strike turned Lech Walesa, a shipyard electrician and Solidarity founder, into an international figure and sparked a groundswell of opposition that helped speed the demise of Poland's regime in 1989 and of the communist bloc overall.