The fact that Poland had felt little impact from the world financial crisis eleven years ago was due to the fact that Warsaw had retained its national currency. The Liberal Civic Platform (PO), whose governing coalition was voted out in October 2015, is campaigning for a swift introduction of the euro in Poland.
Party leader Kaczyński campaigned in the capital of the East Polish Voivodeship of the same name. He said it was a fact that only a victory of his PiS in the elections to the European Parliament in May and the Warsaw Sejm in the fall, guarantee that Poland would “adequately” act on the euro.
A voivodeship resembles that of a duchy in western medieval states, much as the title of voivode was equivalent to that of a duke. In a modern context, the word normally refers to one of the provinces (województwa) of Poland. Poland as of 2017 has 16 voivodeships.
In his speech on Saturday, which was largely devoted to the euro issue in the run-up to the EU elections, the former Polish Prime Minister emphasized that the euro only benefits the economically strong countries, such as Germany and the Netherlands.
France and Greece lose with the single currency, he said. Whether the domestic economy would be better off by abolishing the złoty, and whether the euro would give Polish citizens more in their pockets was “very doubtful,” Kaczyński said.
“We say no to the euro, we say no to the European price level. We say: European wages, but not European prices. Whatever the nature of the takeover mechanism, Poland would lose by introducing the single currency. Although the contribution agreement to the EU obliges Poland to introduce the euro, it does not set a date.
“That’s why we’ll eventually take over the euro, because that’s what we’re obliged to do, but we’ll take it over when it’s in our interests. And in our interest it is when we have a gross domestic product very similar to Germany “, the PiS chief explained.
Poland generated a gross domestic product of estimated 614,2 billion dollars in 2018, while Germany generated one of 3,386 billion euros. Other EU countries, such as Germany and Austria, would also consistently enforce their interests, for example with the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline project, which violates European solidarity and is built against the will of other member states, he said. So Poland will also pursue its interests and those of its citizens.
Premier Morawiecki also noted that the national currency had protected Poland against an economic crisis.
In his speech, the Prime Minister once again said that his country should draw the right conclusions from the “permanent stagnation” in which the southern European states were led by the premature introduction of the euro.
Neither theoretically nor practically is it worthwhile for Poland to introduce the euro today. His government will show that it pays to “base our economy on the Polish currency, the Polish złoty”.
If a new parliament were elected this Sunday in Poland, the ruling social-conservative Justice and Justice Party (PiS) could count on just under 40 percent of the vote (39,7 percent).
The nearest competitor, the Civic Platform (PO), accounted for 17,3 percent. Scoring 7,9 percent, is the party of the former mayor of Stolp (Słupsk) and homosexual activist Robert Biedroń, Wiosna (Spring).
This emerges from a survey conducted by the polling institute IBRiS on behalf of the Internet portal onet.pl forth.