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Poland to enter euro's preparatory stage by June, minister says
Feb 23, 2009, 12:00 GMT
Warsaw - Poland will begin talks next month on entering the European Exchange Rate Mechanism 2 (ERM-2) and should join by May or June, deputy finance minister Ludwik Kotecki said in a TV interview on Monday.
The ERM-2 is seen as the precursor to joining the euro itself, which the country's Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, has said recently he wants Poland to adopt by 2012.
A qualifying country is required to spend at least two years in ERM-2 and run a budget deficit no more than 3 per cent of GDP before it can drop its national currency and adopt the euro.
Kotecki said Poland will start official talks in the next two weeks with the European Central Bank on entering the ERM-2, TVN reported.
Tusk said recently that the global financial crisis was even more reason for Poland - which joined the EU in 2004 - to join the bloc's currency.
The prime minister must now work to convince the eurosceptic opposition Law and Justice party to support his plan, as it would require a change in the Polish constitution.
The constitution currently gives the National Bank the sole power to distribute money.
The opposition party says it supports a constitutional change if there was then a referendum in Poland on adopting the currency.
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