− The next item is the Commission statement on the risk of closure of the Gdansk shipyard.

I know that there are among the 3 000 employees of the present shipyard people who at that time risked their lives in the name of human dignity, human rights and other values enshrined among the standards of the European Union.

The information available to the Commission indicates that ship financing is a sector in which it is possible to assess and price individual risks, and that a functioning market for the granting of end-financing guarantees for shipbuilding does exist.

The Fund is intended to cover the risk of failure to recover loans for the construction and conversion of ships granted by banks to Italian and foreign shipowners for work carried out in Italian shipyards.

Although most Member States have banned the sale and use of products containing asbestos, a measure which will reduce the risks in the future, some situations are continuing to give rise to alarm. The root causes lie either in exposure in the years between 1945 and 1980, when these materials were used extensively, or in the need for demolition, removal, and repair work in the building, shipbuilding and ship repair, and aviation industries, and where industrial plant is concerned. These categories of work are considered high-risk activities.

In this manner, we can reduce the ever increasing risk of an extension of such unfair practices by South Korea to other sectors such as the automotive, electronic goods or steel sectors.