Złoty Forever? Why Poland Still Won’t Make The Switch To The Euro

Updated June 16, 2025 at 1:00 pm*

-Analysis-

WARSAW — Starting in October, citizens of eurozone countries will be able to send instant bank payments without incurring additional fees.

In Poland, this rule will not come into force until 2027 — and it will only apply to transfers in euros, not zlotys. Poles can use the Express Elixir system, which allows for instant transfers in zlotys, but the cost of this service depends on the pricing policy of the given bank — with a few exceptions, it is not a free service. 

This is just one of the more recent benefits that Poland must forego, as it remains remarkably skeptical about joining the European single currency. What’s driving this particular attitude?

Poles’ views differ from the European average 

Europeans overall appreciate the euro. According to the latest Eurobarometer survey, 74% of residents of the European Union support the common currency, and in the eurozone 83% of citizens are satisfied with it.

This means that support is greater in countries where citizens have experienced the benefits, and perhaps also the disadvantages, of the common currency first-hand. Those who pay with their own, national currencies are more afraid of it. In this group, Poles are the most reluctant to use the euro. 

The number of European Union countries remaining outside the eurozone is systematically decreasing. In recent years, the common currency has been introduced by: Croatia (2023), Lithuania (2015), Latvia (2014), Estonia (2011) and Slovakia (2009).

Besides Poland, the countries that are part of the EU but still use their own currency are the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Sweden and Denmark. Bulgaria is ready to adopt the euro and this will probably happen next year. Denmark has its own currency (Danish krona) rigidly linked to the euro within the so-called ERM II mechanism.

Polish support for adopting the euro has been systematically declining since 2004.

The remaining countries are at various stages of preparations for the euro with great approval from citizens — except for Poland. In Romania, 77% of residents want a common currency, in Hungary 76%, in Sweden 55%, in the Czech Republic 49%.

Polish support for adopting the euro has been systematically declining since 2004, reaching one of the lowest levels in history in 2025. According to the latest research from early 2025, conducted by the Ariadna National Research Panel, only 26% of Poles support the introduction of the euro, while as many as 74% are against it, of which 48% strongly and 26% rather opposed. In 2009, 52% were in favor, and 36% against. 

Right-wing demagogy

The euro was blamed for causing the crisis that hit Greece and several other Southern European countries in 2010-2012, although the truth was more complicated. Today, the euro enjoys the support of over 80% of Greeks. 

Poles were discouraged from the euro not so much by the Greek crisis, but by the propaganda spread by right-wing groups, as well as by the National Bank of Poland. This propaganda uses some rational arguments (“our own currency provides the economy with greater flexibility”), but mostly irrational ones (“the euro threatens sovereignty”), and even absurd ones (“after joining the eurozone, the EU will take our gold”).

Those supporting the euro keep quiet in Poland. They come mainly from business circles, as well as from the left. The center-right liberal conservative party Civic Platform, to which prime minister Donald Tusk belongs, prefers not to speak about the euro — in line with the tactic of adopting some of the right-wing slogans as its own. Its politicians explain that there is no point in talking about joining the eurozone, as Poland does not meet most of the Maastricht criteria, which are a prerequisite for adopting the euro.

If we do not meet the criteria, it is because successive governments have not made an effort in trying to get us ready to adopt the common currency.

But if we do not meet the criteria, it is because successive governments have not made an effort in trying to get us ready to adopt the common currency. In other words, they are working towards a self-fulfilling prophecy. They do not try to make Poland meet the Maastricht criteria (which involve low deficit and public debt, low inflation, low interest rates and a stable exchange rate), and then say there is no possibility to join.

Incidentally, meeting the Maastricht criteria alone, even without joining the eurozone, would be beneficial for the economy. It would free up hundreds of billions of złoty of capital that currently finances government spending and allow it to be allocated to investments. 

Warnings after the financial crisis 

Many books and articles have been written about the threats posed by the euro. Some of them were written by Stefan Kawalec, former deputy minister of finance in Tadeusz Mazowiecki’s government, co-author with Ernest Pytlarczyk of the book The Euro Paradox.

These two economists claim that the euro has turned out to be a trap. Easy access to cheap capital has led to excessive debt and crisis. The economic problems of peripheral countries would not have become a problem for the whole of Europe if it were not for the common currency. They even propose dissolving the eurozone, which in their opinion will save the European Union. 

The arguments of Kawalec and Pytlarczyk are not trivial, but it should be noted that their book was published in 2016, when the memory of the eurozone crisis was fresh. In the nine years since its publication, no similar crisis has occurred, no one has seriously thought about dissolving the eurozone, and more countries have joined it. The European Union, and above all the eurozone, have coped quite well with the pandemic, the spike in inflation, and the halt in energy supplies from Russia. 

In the eurozone, inflation was 2.2% in April — compared to 4.3% in Poland, 4.2% in Hungary, and 4.9% in Romania. Interest rates in these countries are 5.25%, 6.50%, and 6.50%, respectively. The only country in our region outside the eurozone (I do not count Bulgaria, because it already has one foot in the zone) that has overcome inflation is the Czech Republic. In April, prices there were 1.9% higher than a year earlier, and the reference rate of the Czech National Bank is 3.50%. In the eurozone, it is 2.25%. It is not necessary to remind anyone that the size of loan repayment installments depends on the level of interest rates. 

Among the eurozone countries, the highest yield on treasury bonds (in simple terms — percentage of new debt incurred by the government) is Italy — 3.52%. Despite everything, this is less than the Czech government has to pay on its debt (4.16%) and much less than the Polish government (5.38%), Hungarian government (7.07%) or Romanian government (7.57%). 

Low interest rates can be a trap

Of course, low interest rates can also be a trap, leading to a speculative bubble on the real estate market or the stock market, and ultimately to a crisis. They can also encourage governments to take on even more debt. We know this from the experience of the eurozone crisis.

But governments and financial market supervisors have learned from that crisis; they are better at recognizing threats, institutions have been established to prevent further crises, and banks are stronger in terms of capital. Enough to say that investors are buying Greek government bonds without any worries, the yield on which (for an investor, yield means profit on capital) is only 3.28%. 

Capital union is coming. But not to Poland 

The European Union, and especially the eurozone, must find a way to cope with global competition from American, Chinese, and Indian companies. This was the subject of the 2024 report “The Future of European Competitiveness,” prepared by a team led by the former president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi.

The key issue proposed in the report and gradually implemented by European politicians is the creation of a capital union in Europe, or, as it is currently called, a savings and investment union. The idea is for the savings of EU households — 1.4 trillion euros per year compared to 800 billion euros in the USA — to be safely invested in the European market without additional costs and with profit. Today, 300 billion euros of European savings finance the development of countries outside the EU, because there is no single capital market. 

The creation of a savings and investment union is a sine qua non condition for the European Union to regain competitiveness.

It is necessary to remove regulatory and supervisory barriers to cross-border asset management operations and the distribution of savings. The European Commission will soon propose measures that will ensure equal treatment for all participants in the financial market, regardless of their location. Figuratively speaking, the idea is that the savings of Dutch pensioners can be invested in Estonian startups without obstacles, but also without major risk. 

The creation of a savings and investment union is a sine qua non condition for the European Union to regain competitiveness. It will be difficult to include countries with their own currencies in the savings and investment union, due to the exchange rate risk. The aforementioned Dutch pensioners will be afraid of investing in a country whose currency can quickly lose value. 

The savings and investment union is not an ideological project. It is not about transferring greater competences to Brussels, about new bureaucratic regulations.

On the contrary, this project is to provide greater freedom to dispose of one’s own money, increase the profits from savings and create a real, powerful financial market, equal to the American one. The ticket to this will be the adoption of the euro. It is worth considering.

*Originally published June 11, 2025, this article was updated June 16, 2025 with enriched media.