29.04.2009 @ 22:37 CET

EUOBSERVER / WARSAW ­ Shipyard trade unions clashed with police in 

Warsaw on Wednesday (29 April) at the start of a centre-right party 

congress, in protest at EU-mandated closures in the Polish 

shipbuilding sector.

Several people were injured and required on the spot treatment, as 

riot police used tear gas and rubber batons after demonstrators 

hurled firecrackers and burning wheels.

The few hundred-strong protesters waved flags emblazoned with the 

word "Solidarnosc," the name of the historic trade union founded by 

Lech Walesa in 1980 at the Gdansk shipyard, which later developed 

into a broad anti-Communist social movement.

Mr Walesa was not present at the congress in the Soviet-era Palace of 

Culture building in the heart of the Polish capital on Wednesday. But 

he is due to give the keynote address at the closure of the event on 

Thursday.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, himself a member 

of the centre-right family, is also taking part in the European 

People's Party (EPP) gathering.

The commission has deemed Polish state aid to the Gdansk and Gdynia 

shipyards to be non-compliant with EU competition rules, forcing a 

major restructuring which will cost thousands of jobs.

Speaking to Polish Radio ahead of the congress, Mr Barroso criticised 

Warsaw's response to the crisis in the shipbuilding industry.

"Governments could have acted faster, been more effective and 

conducted the restructuring process earlier," he said. "I have spoken 

about the shipyard with five different governments, including the 

present one with Donald Tusk as Prime Minister. I suggested solutions 

consistent within EU rules, which could help to continue production 

and save working places."

Similar Solidarnosc protests have already taken place in Brussels in 

front of the European Commission.

But the protesters in Warsaw were more angry at the centre-right 

Polish government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the host of the 

event, than the commission chief.

In his opening speech in the Palace of Culture, Mr Tusk praised the 

social dimension of the EPP, which he said had "never accepted 

unbridled capitalism" and instead placed its faith in the concept of 

a "social market economy."

"We want markets to work for people and not people for markets," he 

explained, as demonstrators burned his effigy outside.

"To us, economic success equates to employment. In our political 

culture unemployment is not simply the underutilisation of a factor 

of production, but also the limitation or denial of the opportunity 

to share in the building of society. In contrast, employment 

strengthens participation and human dignity," he went on.

"In view of rising unemployment, our governments are being called to 

respond quickly and effectively. Let us remember our objective to 

give citizens who have lost their employment or are on the verge of 

doing so, new opportunities to help them reintegrate in society. Let 

us thus, look forward to a brighter tomorrow and speak more about the 

investments required to help us achieve this aim."

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, German Chancellor Angela 

Merkel, Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi and their counterparts from 

the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden, Belgium,Greece and Romania also 

gave speeches praising the virtues of social market economy.

Leaders are on Thursday to formally adopt the centre-right party 

manifesto for the European elections, with Ukrainian Prime Minister 

Yulia Tymoshenko, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and 

opposition leaders from Belarus and Moldova also set to address the 

congress.