Poland's shipyards helped supply the muscle crucial to overthrowing communism, but they have struggled since 1989 and two of the largest are still in government hands and looking desperately for a buyer, reports Jan Cienski .

The historic Gdansk shipyard, cradle of the Solidarity labour union, has been bought by Ukraine's Donbass group, but yards in Szczecin and Gdynia are still unsold. The government is determined to get rid of them, under pressure from the European Commission, which is threatening to demand repayment of billions of euros in past state aid unless they are privatised.