Neelie Kroes held talks with Polish Treasury Minister Aleksander Grad on Tuesday on the restructuring plan for the historic shipyard _ the birthplace of the Solidarity movement that helped topple communism.

Kroes said the plan for Gdansk has "improved significantly," and she is awaiting clarification on remaining "technical issues."

Poland has been battling the EU since 2005 over aid to Gdansk and two other shipyards.

The three yards, which employ thousands of workers, have been kept in business only by hefty subsidies.

The EU considers such aid illegal, and has pushed Warsaw to sell off the shipyards' assets.