The European Union is proposing to subsidize its embattled shipyards in a long-standing dispute over what it views as unfair competition from South Korea. The EU will make the proposal to an EU industrial council meeting in Sweden on May 15, said EU Ambassador to Korea Frank Hesske. Sweden is the current president of the 15-member group. The EU, which has been holding talks with South Korea about the issue for the past two years, could take the case to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), but that could take many years, thus the move for a subsidy program of its own. Hesske said the South Korean government was supporting the Korean shipbuilding industry through debt forgiveness programs by state-controlled banks.