What about the euro in Poland? The European Commission's report leaves no doubts

European Commission is obliged to present at least once every two years a report on the convergence of member countries that do not belong to the Eurozone, i.e. the degree to which their economic indicators are close to the EU average. A condition joining the euro zone is to meet four conditions – the so-called Maastricht criteria. According to the report Poland currently does not meet any of them.

One condition regarding stable prices states that inflation may not be greater than 1.5 percent. from the average price level calculated for the three countries in the euro area with the lowest inflation.

The second condition concerns public finances and requires that budget deficit was not higher than 3%. GDPand the public debt did not exceed 60 percent GDP. Due to exceeding the budget gap limit, Poland is to be subject to the procedure excessive deficit together with six other countries (the final decision on launching the procedure will be made in July by the finance ministers of the member states). In the 2022 report, the condition of balanced public finances was the only one that Poland met.

The third condition concerns a stable currency and states that a country wishing to join the euro zone must participate in the ERM II exchange rate mechanism for at least two years.

The fourth condition for joining the euro zone concerns: long-term interest rates. They can be no more than 2 percentage points higher than the average calculated for the three countries in the euro zone with the lowest interest rates.

The EC also noted that Poland has not adapted its law to the provisions of the treaty, which also prevents it from entering the euro zone.

Currently, seven EU Member States are not members: Bulgaria, The czech republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden. In the report, the EC emphasized that all these countries, except Denmark, are legally obliged to join the euro zone. Denmark uses the so-called an opt-out clause, giving it the option not to join a given EU policy, and is therefore not subject to the convergence assessment.

Among the member states outside the euro zone, Bulgaria is the closest to entry, planning to introduce the common currency at the beginning of 2025. In the EC's assessment, however, Bulgaria still does not meet the condition regarding price stability. On January 1, 2023, Croatia joined the euro zone; it currently consists of 20 countries.