BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- EU regulators said Thursday they would investigate Poland's euro52.7 million ($68 million) subsidy to computer maker Dell Inc., because they doubt the company's new Polish plant needed a state subsidy.
EU rules allow governments give money to businesses operating in disadvantaged parts of Europe.
The European Union admitted that Lodz, Poland's third-largest city, has an abnormally low standard of living and high unemployment. But regulators said they would look carefully at the payment -- which covers more than a quarter of the euro189.58 million ($245 million) cost of the factory -- to make sure it doesn't enrich Dell or help it make more of a product that isn't selling.
The factory, Dell's second manufacturing plant in Europe, aims to employ 3,000 people turning out desktops, notebooks and servers, including Latitude and Inspiron models.
EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said the EU executive needed to make sure the aid "will not reinforce Dell's position or create significant capacity in a market on the decline."
When Dell announced plans to build the plant in Poland, it was hailed as a landmark project for bringing high-skilled work to the country where hundreds of thousands of young, educated people were leaving for higher-paid jobs.
The Round Rock, Texas-based Dell said it had picked Poland as a manufacturing center because it was close to a large, growing customer base in central and eastern Europe where it expected sales to increase by nearly 14 percent a year.
The company also makes computers in Limerick, Ireland.
