Unwanted euro?

Support for adoption of the euro among Poles has been dropping. A recent survey by TNS OBOP shows that more Poles currently oppose moving to the single currency - 47 percent - than support it - 36 percent. By contrast, two years prior Poland's accession to the EU - support for euro adoption reached as high as two thirds of the Polish population. However, as much as 87 percent of Poles still support European integration, recent data from Public Opinion Research Center (CBOS) shows.

According to Witold Orłowski, chief economic advisor at PricewaterhouseCoopers Poland, shrinking support for the euro results from insufficient attention paid to the currency by the government and media. He says that in public debates, economic matters are treated as if they are of minor importance.

Jacek Rostowski, an expert from the Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE), says the main cause for dwindling enthusiasm for adoption of the euro is lower expectations of possible profits. "Before EU entry, the adoption of the euro raised hopes for greater economic stability," he says, noting that Poland's inflation rate was much higher at the time. Now that the economic situation has improved, people are less supportive of change.

Rostowski stresses that lower support for euro adoption is not limited to Poland. Before the introduction of the euro, European countries felt a strong need for monetary stability, as the multitude of currencies within the Union meant greater fluctuations in currency rates. When the euro was introduced, the situation stabilized, and the countries not in the euro zone are now less eager to change. Finally, Rostowski says that criteria for euro adoption are unnecessarily strict, proving a further disincentive.