European Commission recommends to throw away the repair plans prepared for shipyards from Szczecin, Gdynia and Gdansk. This means that the companies would have to give back the public subsidies they have become so far and go bankrupt.
“We asked for reasons of the rejections to be submitted till Friday. We also applied to found an expert team which would evaluate the programs without any bias”, Aleksander Grad, the Minister of the Treasury said.
Jonathan Todd from EU competition department said that the analysis will be submitted when Brussels makes final decision whether to accept or reject these plans. According to unofficial sources, this will be made in a fortnight.
Representatives of Solidarnosc trade union of Gdansk shipyard had expected negative decision from Brussels. They did not want to be merged with Gdynia shipyard. Brussels waits for a plan for Gdansk only but if other shipyards go bankrupt, it will have difficulties to survive. Stocznia Gdynia management has recently filed a suit at the prosecutor’s office questioning different evaluation of Gdynia assets made by ISD Polska, Stocznia Gdansk investor and potential partner for Gdynia. Aleksander Grad assures he has a plan B if shipyards go bankrupt but he gives no details.
Meanwhile, Brussels approves support for banks, including Belgian Fortis.
“I could imagine a situation when we sell shipyards to a bank for PLN 1 (EUR 0.2) and increase the bank’s capital by EUR 1bn. Then, the bank will have enough money to privatize the sector. This is a joke and we won’t do this”, Aleksander Grad comments.
Several weeks ago, he accused the Law and Justice party that it had failed to start negotiations with Fortis concerning privatization of the shipyards. Today, one may say that it was the right decision not to let Fortis into the shipyards.
(PLN 1 = EUR 0.294)