Last month STX Finland, a shipyard located in Turku, lost an order for a new cruise ship from Royal Caribbean International to French yard STX Europe after the Finnish government declined to grant the Finnish shipbuilder a 50 million euro loan.
Parliament’s Commerce Committee heard evidence on the matter from Jan Vapaavuori, Minister for Employment and the Economy. He was at the committee for around 2.5 hours and described discussions as ’constructive’.
The minister said that Finland had sent a request to the European Union commission over France’s actions in relation to the shipyards. He said that a working group will soon be established to consider the situation of Finnish maritime industries.
Finns party to table interpellation
Commerce committee chair Mauri Pekkarinen of the opposition Centre party said that it looked as though the order was lost for financial reasons.
He said after hearing evidence from Vapaavuori the government was prepared to support the project, but the permitted level of support was not enough. The European Union limits state support for companies.
Pekkarinen did ask, though, whether the government should have made decisions at an earlier stage to ensure it could become a part-owner of the shipyard.
Finns party members of the committee were not satisfied with Vapaavuori’s explanation. The party still intends to table an interpellation question when parliament returns from its winter break.