Poles not ready to join the euro zone, says PM

Poland is unlikely to join the euro zone until the end of the decade, prime minister Donald Tusk has said, citing a lack of public and political support.

Five years ago, Mr Tusk indicated Poland would be part of the currency bloc by 2011, but now he has said the ongoing crisis meant he did not see a two-thirds parliamentary majority necessary to back euro entry in this or the next term.

"We will not enter the euro zone without changing the constitution. We do not have that kind of majority today and my intuition tells me we will not have it in the next term either," said Mr Tusk to the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper.

Poland’s next general election, for a four-year parliamentary term, is scheduled for 2015. Mr Tusk said Poland remained committed to joining the euro – an obligation of EU entry in 2004, though without a deadline. However, he said turbulence meant Warsaw’s wait-and-see approach would involve more waiting than previously thought.

"In 2008, I definitely overdid it on the optimism," Mr Tusk said. "The mitigating circumstance is that two weeks later, Lehman Brothers went bankrupt and the crisis erupted."

Last March, he floated the idea of deciding a date for euro entry through a referendum. He dropped the idea when, a month later, finance minister Jacek Rostowski said there was "no great rush" to enter the bloc.

Opinion polls consistently show two-thirds of Poles opposed to the move, fearing it will bring inflation and other economic uncertainty.

“If you want me to lose elections, then yes, persuade me to announce that I will do something that people fear,” said Mr Tusk. “And bear in mind that the euro zone remains in a deep process of renovation.”

Mr Tusk’s call for a referendum in March divided opinion in his Civic Platform (PO) ranks. One group backs the leader, fearing that delaying adoption of the euro will lead to Warsaw’s political marginalisation in the EU.

Another more critical group is supportive of Mr Rostowski’s position. They warn that the period of restrictive fiscal policy that would be required to bring Poland in line with the Maastricht Treaty budget rules, a precondition for euro entry, could have a negative effect on the economy.