Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

NEWSDESK

EU urges Poland to file reform plans for shipyards
29 Feb 2008 13:48:59 GMT
 Source: Reuters
BRUSSELS, Feb 29 (Reuters) - The European Commission has urged Poland to meet Friday's deadline for the submission of restructuring plans at struggling state-controlled shipyards suspected of receiving illegal state aid.

Poland must also not agree rescue plans with prospective investors in the yards -- Gdansk, Gdynia and Szczecin, where anti-Communist movement Solidarity was born in 1980 -- over the Commission's head, the European Union executive said.

"We want to emphasise it would be extremely disappointing for the Commission if we were presented with a fait accompli," Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd told a daily news briefing.

"We do not expect the restructuring plans to be finalised ... without our involvement."

Officials say the Commission is impatient with Poland for dragging its feet over the plans, which could provide the basis for Brussels regulators to declare whether state aid for the yards is legal.

Because of the state aid, the Commission is demanding unspecified output cuts from the shipyards.

"We consider there has been ample time for the preparation of these restructuring plans. We have been very co-operative and understanding," Todd said.

He declined to say how much the Commission believed Poland had granted to the shipyards in aid, but some estimates put it at hundreds of millions of euros.

Unless the Commission accepts the restructuring plans, it may order the yards to repay state aid deemed illegal even after their privatisation.

Under EU rules, governments can give financial help to ailing companies only if the cash is accompanied by plans that would make the firms viable in the long term.

Industrial Donbass Union, one of Ukraine's biggest financial and industrial groups, has agreed to pay $400 million for the Gdansk shipyard.

Polish newspapers have reported future investors are not willing to see the yard's production capacity slashed or to repay state aid.

(Editing by David Hulmes)


AlertNet news is provided by
Email this article       Send comments

NGO latest

•  Ukrainian government decision on methadone will help scale up HIV prevention with drug users
International HIV/AIDS Alliance - UK

•  IMPACT 2010: new strategy to take community action to scale
International HIV/AIDS Alliance - UK

•  NRC Launches Asian emergency roster
NRC - Norway

MORE >>

Latest news

•  EU urges Poland to file reform plans for shipyards

•  RPT-EU governments start tough climate change talks

•  GLOBAL: Drug-resistant TB on the increase

•  Afghan roadside bomb kills two Polish soldiers

•  Drug-resistant TB seen at record levels globally

MORE >>

AlertNet news is provided by

Related articles

Breaking stories
EU urges Poland to file reform plans for shipyards (1 minute ago)

RPT-EU governments start tough climate change talks (1 minute ago)

AlertNet insight
Climate change and conflicts: Is there a link at all? (1 minute ago)

Aid agency news feed
Ukrainian government decision on methadone will help scale up HIV prevention with drug users (1 minute ago)

Blogs
Bali climate change talks: 'The long, arduous road' to nowhere? (1 minute ago)


Country information

Facts & figures
Poland Ukraine

Del.icio.us Del.icio.us  |   Digg Digg  |   NewsVine NewsVine  |   Reddit Reddit   
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-02-15T114625Z_01_KIE06_RTRIDSP_2_UKRAINE_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/KIE06.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-02-15T114223Z_01_KIE07_RTRIDSP_2_UKRAINE_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/KIE07.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-02-15T113928Z_01_KIE08_RTRIDSP_2_UKRAINE_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/KIE08.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-02-15T113220Z_01_KIE04_RTRIDSP_2_UKRAINE_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/KIE04.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-02-15T112945Z_01_KIE05_RTRIDSP_2_UKRAINE_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/KIE05.htm

People lay down flowers during an Afghan war memorial service in Kiev, February 15, 2008. Ukraine on Friday, along with other former Soviet states, marked the 19th anniversary of the Soviet ...


More pictures | Galleries
Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Fri Feb 29 13:47:45 2008