The future of Poland's shipyards, the cradle of the country's Solidarity trade union movement, was called into doubt yesterday in a stand-off between Brussels and Warsaw over hundreds of millions of euros of state aid.
Neelie Kroes, EU competition commissioner, has given Warsaw until the end of the week to justify the state support by setting out restructuring plans to make the industry profitable.
If Poland fails to map out a profitable future for the yards at Gdansk, Gdynia and Szczecin by Friday, Ms Kroes could deem the state aid lifeline illegal and order previous subsidies to be repaid.
Asked by a Polish journalist how she would feel about closing down the birthplace of the country's struggle against communism, Ms Kroes's spokesman said: "The commission doesn't gladly close down shipyards."
The clash over Poland's shipbuilding industry - the second largest in Europe after Germany's - is likely to fuel tensions between the populist Law and Justice party government in Warsaw and the EU.
Earlier this year Ms Kroes criticised the Polish government for attempting to hold up the purchase of a Polish bank by UniCredit, the Italian banking group. Jaroslaw and Lech Kaczynski, the twin brothers who are Poland's prime minister and president respectively, were once members of Solidarity. Both men say they will put the interests of Poland first, and have raised hackles in Brussels with protectionism in the banking sector, a lukewarm approach to joining the euro and a recent flirtation with restoring the country's death penalty.
José Manuel Barroso, European Commission president, is expected tomorrow to urge Poland to play a constructive role in the EU when he holds talks with Jaroslaw Kaczynski in Brussels.
