Poland Seen Joining Eurozone Only When Situation Stabilizes

May 25, 2011 Poland will not rush its euro adoption even if eurozone membership remains its strategic goal as the situation in the eurozone needs to be fixed and stabilized first, NBP President Marek Belka said in an interview for the daily Financial Times Deutschland. "In current turbulent times staying outside the eurozone seems wise," Belka said. "As long as Greece remains an open wound of the monetary union, euro will not be as attractive as it used to be or as it could be in the future." "As long as eurozone states do not converge economically and do not improve public finance, there would be risks both for the old eurozone members and newly accepted countries in the situation of eurozone expansion," he said, adding that the eurozone needs to re-organize and strengthen its institutions. Still, Belka underlined that adopting the euro remains Poland's "strategic goal." "If the situation in in the eurozone stabilizes, then there could be a sudden acceleration of Polish eurozone accession [process]," the official also offered. Source: The Warsaw Voice