Poland may not be ready for euro for dozen years

Poland's finance minister said Friday it may take a dozen years for the EU member to be ready to adopt the euro, adding there was no big need to rush to join. "I'm not fooling myself that these preparations will only take a couple years," Jacek Rostowski said during a eurozone debate at the Senate. "It will take much more time. But I hope it won't last longer than a dozen years but a little less." Warsaw has previously vowed to meet the criteria required to adopt the euro by 2015, but it has avoided setting a target entry date as the 17-member eurozone struggles to resolve its protracted debt crisis. Rostowski's comments follow a failed effort by Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the beginning of this year to have the country make a quick decision on joining the euro. Given that the centrist government lacks the votes in parliament to make the necessary constitutional changes, practical steps towards joining the single European currency are unlikely until after elections in 2015. Poland is obliged to adopt the euro under the terms of its 2004 entry in the European Union, but there is no deadline. Opinion polls show most Poles are opposed to adopting the euro as the currency union continues to struggle through its debt crisis. "Here's a good motto for the day: no big rush on eurozone entry, but speed up on readying the economy," Rostowski said. Poland is the only EU member to have maintained growth through the 2007-2009 global financial and eurozone crises, thanks in part to the zloty easing in value against the euro. Rostowski said Poland must reduce unemployment, obtain better credit ratings and most importantly make its economy more competitive and flexible before joining the euro. At the moment, only Poland's public debt meets the Maastricht criteria for adopting the euro, at around 55 percent of gross domestic product compared to the 60 percent limit. Poland's public deficit of 3.4 percent of GDP is above the three percent limit, while average inflation of 3.7 percent last year is also too high.