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POLAND AND BULGARIA have put their ambitions to join the Eurozone on ice – fearing that the crisis consuming the single currency’s smaller nations could swallow them up if they were to adopt the euro.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Bulgaria’s prime minister said he had decided to shelve the plans as the European economy continued to deteriorate – circumstances which had dampened any public support.
“The momentum has shifted in our thinking and among the public,” Boyko Borisov said. “Right now, I don’t see any benefits of entering the euro zone, only costs.
The public rightly wants to know who would we have to bail out when we join? It’s too risky for us and it’s also not certain what the rules are and what are they likely to be in one year or two.
Bulgaria has so far managed to keep its budget deficit within the European limit, restricting it to 2.1 per cent of GDP last year after cutting back on pay and pensions. The country is one of Europe’s poorest, however – with its circumstances so weak that its currency is already pegged to the euro.
Poland’s foreign minister meanwhile said that while his country had passed a referendum on euro membership, it wouldn’t rush into seeking membership until the currency’s broader problems had been sorted out.
In times of crisis we must first restore confidence,” Radoslaw Sikorski told the Frankfurter Allgemeine. “This crisis is only superficially about money: it is also about credibility.”
He added:
You can hardly blame us – that we don’t want to join as long as the Eurozone is in a serious crisis. We are willing to join, if you have solved your problems.
Lithuanian prime minister Andrius Kubilius last week said his country would only go about seeking euro membership when the continent itself was ready.
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Fair play lads !! Right decision 100% , why in the name of God would join this economic prison…
It would be like pulling alongside the Titanic and jumping on just as it’s going down.
Politicians making wise choices! We could do with some of them.
They are dead right…a wise move
can we offer them our place in the Euro… and we can go back to Punts…..
Youd then start complaining about the politicians when you have to convert your punts to euros when going on your week to Santa ponza
I’d take that complaint any day and actually it was the only argument offered to me when I questioned how joining this crap pile of monetary union would benefit us…..”no more standing in line at the bank swapping punt for lira or francs” they sang….”sure it’ll be great”…
The Kop… Excellent idea!!!
They are right ! Poland will be a superpower in 50 years!
A superpower of hotel workers and house cleaners.
Ah Elaine back with more nice upbeat comments.Missed your ray of sunshine from earlier threads.
lol@Elaine
I’m reminded of the movie Finding Nemo….RUN AWAY !!
Wow politicans putting their people first and using their common sense,amazing!
Very sensible. It would be very unwise to risk taking on the liabilities of PIIGS. The talk emanating from the ECB suggests that thats the way it’s going to go.
Shut up you bigot.
Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t the uk France and Ireland open the gates first to allow likes of Poland who wer joining the Eu for the poles to enter and work legally which led to the large influx coming over a few years ago?
Now they won’t join the EU coz it’s shagged?
If that’s the case can we not renege as they are not part of the EU!
Poland joined the EU in 2004. They are not members of the Euro zone and have wisely put joining the € off.
If they have any sense they will NEVER join the euro.
The euro will be lucky to see the next few years after that we’ll all be bartering in beans! Or zloty as Poland probably will be a contender as a European ‘elite’ just like France and Germany. And poor little old us will have nothing left but genetically modified potatoes and empty banks!
Ms Power. You are a simple individual !
At least someone has their heads screwed on!
It’s not a clever move, it’s a common sense move not to join the euro at this time.
Poland and Bulgaria have their currencies pegged to the euro anyway but at least they can unpeg at any time
the sooner the euro dies the better off we will all be.
Um – no, the poorer and more destitute we’ll all be. The time for us to exit the Euro and emerge relatively unscathed has come and gone. Our debt will make our new currency worthless, Sterling is too highly valued to peg to without becoming paupers, and will take a serious beating if the Euro collapses, and defaulting will blacklist us in the bond markets, forcing us to offer bonds with unsustainably high yields. The time to exit the euro would have been before the bail-out agreement. It was an either/or option – either exit the Euro or accept the bail-out. Doing both would be suicidal. It might work on in the long-term, but that presumes we would survive the short- and mid-term, which is a presumption too far.
Well if they aren’t willing to join the currency maybe they shouldn’t be part of the EU and all the ‘benefits’ it brings, borderless as it is.
It’s time for a euro wide vote on a new federal untied states of Europe. IN where by the whole EZ budget is dictated by Berlin giving a basic budget on the size of each country or OUT where by the countries go back to their own currency’s and go it alone. Each individual European should have a say on where the debacle of the EZ is heading…….a long way away from a trading union!! Long live the European mega monster……NOT!
The EU was around long before the Euro was, some countries chose to join the Euro and some didn’t. You’d see to kick them out of the EU because they were fortunate enough to decide not to join the Euro??
That makes no sense, you sound bitter.
Some countries chose to, others did not have the luxury of a choice in joining the EZ. I’m delighted the polish have the common sense.
Yeah right…throw out UK then too…
@ Klaus – The EU is not the same as the EZ. Many EU countries are not in the EZ, and nobody spoke of kicking them out. We can’t just rewrite the rules when it’s suits us. These countries ate perfectly entitled to make their choice without any threat to their EU membership.
Poland is not rushing to Euro because so many people have mortgages in swiss frank mostly and they charge for the favourable conversion (for the banks) and currency spread from PLN to CHF. Poland is no different to Ireland here, bankers and scammers first, hard working people last.
You aren’t missing much, Bulgaria. Bering in the Euro makes you more vulnerable to market speculators because there is currently no central bank to backstop you. You are also at the mercy of dumb, incompetent Eurocrats like the European Commission and Eurogroup who don’t have a clue about your country’s fundamentals. So they make decisions that send you down the gutter pipe leaving you bankrupt.
It shocks me the amount of racists on here. The neck of some of you saying the Poles are all on social welfare. My boyfriend is Polish and him and his family all work hard jobs, the jobs that Irish people refuse to work in, and they are the ones who are paying the way for the lazy Irish “job-seekers”. Even where I work there are Polish guys who are the hardest workers, sometimes with two or three jobs. When the likes of my own family members say there are no jobs, because they will refuse to work min. wage jobs like in shops etc.
Don’t worry Catriona I stopped worried about racist comments while ago, I very much enjoy bit of slag and fun (including jokes at me of course), but those who seriously mean it are usually losers themselves and just keyboard warriors or some strong-in-group only low lifes. I used to know and currently know many extremely hard working and great Irish people and they don’t have issues with Polish or anybody else as they are too busy with their own stuff and enjoying life in remaining time they have, simply don’t spend their time begrudging others. Cheer up :)
Cheers
Who are the criminals who brought Ireland into the eurozone?
Accountability anyone?
very wise!!
Good on them. They should consider themselves lucky to have that choice
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