Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-04-22-Speech-3-412"
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"en.20090422.56.3-412"2
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"The Commission would like to underline that in the case of the Polish shipyards it applied exactly the same rules as for any other case of restructuring state aid and it treats Poland in the same way as any other Member State.
The difficulties faced by the shipyards had started in the 1990s, to be precise in 1990, well before the Polish accession to the EU, and were by the way not caused by the current financial and economic crisis. In 2004, the Commission started investigating restructuring aid for the Polish shipyards. The situation of the Polish shipyards cannot therefore be compared with that of other companies which have specific problems linked with the current financial crisis.
The Gdynia and Szczecin yards have benefited from state support for many years at the expense of other shipyards in Europe. Unfortunately, the aid granted to the Polish shipyards was not spent on investments and the necessary restructuring. What is more, the yards continued to make losses, were unable to pay taxes and social security obligations and have accumulated significant debts.
For those reasons the Commission had no other option but to adopt final negative decisions for the Gdynia and Szczecin shipyards, ordering recovery of the illegal and incompatible aid granted to the yards.
However, in order to limit the adverse economic and social consequences of these decisions, the Commission authorised Poland to implement the recovery of the illegal aid through a controlled sale of the yards’ assets and subsequent liquidation of the companies. That should maximise opportunities for viable economic activities to continue at those sites.
It should in particular be noted that, if the sale process is successful and correctly implemented, companies acquiring the shipyard assets will not have to repay the illegal subsidies, even if they choose to continue shipbuilding.
The Commission would also like to point out that Structural Funds, and in particular the European Social Fund and the European Regional Development Fund, could be used to cushion the social consequences of job losses. Furthermore, the use of the European Globalisation Fund can be considered under certain circumstances and conditions."@en1
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