Two historic Polish shipyards halted production today and dismissed more than 4,000 workers after they were sold to pay back illegal state aid, dpa quoted the Polish Press Agency as reporting. The government sold the yards in Gdynia and Szczecin to United International Trust, which has vowed to continue ship production in both facilities. A total of 9,000 people lost their jobs in both yards, reported the Polish Press Agency. The European Union had told Poland to sell the yards so the proceeds could be used to repay creditors and return illegal aid to the state. The decision came after a 2005 EU investigation that declared as illegal any aid that was not used for rescue and restructuring. Both yards ran into problems after the fall of communism in 1989 and were kept afloat by state aid and production guarantees. Gdynia and Szczecin are remembered in Poland for the protests held there in the 1970s against the country's communist regime. The strikes there were followed by former Solidarity leader Lech Walesa's strikes in neighboring Gdansk.
