Poland’s two state-owned shipyards are in their final weeks of existence as the government readies for an auction of their assets beginning at the end of the month.

The break-up and sale of shipyards in Gdynia and Szczecin was forced by the European Commission, which ruled last year that the yards had received illegal government support. But that argument finds little support in Poland at a time when other European Union members are pumping state aid into banks and industries undermined by the economic crisis.