The European Commission said it was likely to approve a restructuring programme for Gdańsk before the summer break, allowing the cradle of Poland's anti-communist movement to survive and save thousands of jobs.
"I am satisfied that the new restructuring plan will restore long-term viability to the Gdańsk shipyard," EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes told a news conference.
"If a couple of technical issues are sorted out, I [...] could be in a position to propose a positive decision," she added after talks with Polish Treasury Minister Aleksander Grad.
The statement is set to help the ruling, pro-EU Civic Platform party ahead of Sunday's European Parliament elections, after its coalition government had been accused of failing to prevent the closure of two other shipyards.
Many Polish shipyard workers are bitter, saying that political changes they helped to initiate have led to the destruction or downsizing of their companies.
It was in Gdańsk in 1980 that electrician Lech Wałęsa set up Solidarity, the then Soviet bloc's first free trade union, which helped overthrow communism in the region twenty years ago. Wałęsa went on to become Poland's president.
The Commission's decision would mean the Gdańsk site, sold in 2007 to Ukrainian group Donbass, will not have to return hundreds of millions of euros in state aid. Repayment would probably bankrupt the yard.
"The Commission's decision will allow the investor to launch all projects to which it has committed itself, allowing the company to keep ship production and diversify output," Grad told the conference. State aid is allowed in the 27-country EU only under very strict conditions. The Commission can authorise such help if it is accompanied by a viable restructuring programme.
Poland's conservative, Eurosceptic opposition has criticised the government over the shipyards, charging it has failed to protect them from decisions by Brussels.
The Commission has ordered the state-owned shipyards of nearby Gdynia and Szczecin, ailing and inefficient, to repay billions of euros of aid. Those yards' assets are in the process of being sold to another investor, United International Trust, reportedly involving Middle Eastern capital.
(EurActiv with Reuters.)
