La Commission vivement encouragée à rééxaminer les mesures concernant le chantier naval Gdansk[en][de] 

The historic Gdansk shipyard gave rise to the first free trade-union movement Solidarnosc, which led to a peaceful anti-communist revolt in Poland in the 1980s.

In 2005, the Commission opened a competition probe into state aid worth more than €1.3 billion that the Gdansk shipyard received.

On 31 August 2007, a group of Polish dockworkers came to Brussels in protest against the Commission’s action to restructure the Gdansk shipyard, after the Commission had asked to close down two of its three slipways.

Reporting back to the Parliament on 4 September 2007, Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy told the assembly that the Commission did not seek to close down the Gdansk shipyard, where the historic Solidarity trade union movement began.

"Gdansk shipyard deserves a viable future," McCreevy said, speaking on behalf of Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes. He stated that viable restructuring was necessary to limit the distortion of competition through state intervention and ensure equal treatment of Gdansk compared with other European shipyards. McCreevy went on to argue that a proper restructuring had been postponed for many years, but that the money had not been used to create viable jobs

MEPs across the political spectrum seized the occasion to express their empathy with the workers and underlined the historical importance of Gdansk. Most MEPs urged the Commission to reconsider its position and to take into account the serious number of job losses that would result from a closing or down-scaling of production.

Polish MEP and member of the Parliament's leading centre-right EPP-ED group, Janusz Lewandowski, bemoaned the fact that there was "too much politics around the Gdansk shipyard" and spoke out in favour of a modernisation of the site using modern technology.

Socialist MEP Bogustaw Liberadzki said the shipyard was a "symbol of historical transformation process for Poland, but also for the whole of Europe". He argued that the Commission's decision should not solely focus on the issue of fair competition, but rather to take a global approach in face of fierce competition from Asian shipyards, and called for a "realistic" approach.

Liberal MEP Bronistaw Geremek particularly stressed the EU's community aspect. He called on the Commission to limit the closures to one slipway and give more time to the shipyard to streamline its management to become profitable.

Francis Wurtz of the GUE/NGL group heavily criticised the Commission for its action and asked: "By threatening the very existence of this emblematic place in Poland, does the Commission measure the political scope of the message that it is sending to this new member state, only three years after its accession?"