Price hikes in Croatia after it adopted the euro can serve as a warning to Poland, the Polish prime minister said on Tuesday.
Mateusz Morawiecki told a press conference that Croatia’s use of the euro, which began on January 1, had resulted in a rapid rise in the prices of fuel, consumer goods and services.
“Choosing the euro when inflation is so high is a bit like adding fuel to the fire, and this is a warning to all who want to force the Poles to join the Eurozone,” Morawiecki said.
Under its accession treaty with the EU, Poland is committed to adopting the euro but can set the date for when this will happen. The current government opposes ditching the zloty despite some economists and business groups arguing that adopting the euro would benefit the Polish economy.
Morawiecki also dismissed opposition claims that his government was largely responsible for high inflation in Poland, arguing that rising prices were the result of the Russia-Ukraine war.
“Anyone with common sense and their own mind knows well that inflation came to us from outside. It was imported to Poland and is connected with the war in Ukraine,” he said.
He added that introducing the euro in Poland now would drive inflation even higher.