Warsaw  - There were currently 10 offers to buy Poland's shipyards including one concrete offer that could save the ailing facilities from bankruptcy, Poland's treasury minister said Wednesday.

Aleksander Grad, told the Polish Press Agency that there was now greater interest among investors, and that the offers were serious.

He said that there were offers come from all over the world, including one from a Norwegian investor who wanted to soon meet with the European Commission to discuss the deal.

The offers come amid demands from the European Commission to either sell the shipyards or return the state aid given to the facilities in Gdynia and Szczecin.

Last week, the commission warned that unless Poland quickly gives them "new concrete and credible solutions" to save the facilities, it would demand the return of all aid.

Returning the money would put both shipyards at risk of bankruptcy.

The commission has given the Polish government until the end of June to sell the shipyards.

In addition to the demands to privatize the two yards on the Baltic Coast, the commission had also given Poland a deadline to supply more information on restructuring the shipyard in Gdansk.

The Gdansk shipyard has historical and sentimental value for many Poles as the birthplace of the Solidarity movement, which held strikes there in the 1980s and stood up against the country's communist regime. (dpa)