The Political Impediments to Euro Adoption in Poland

Abstract

Poland’s road to the euro proved bumpy and its early status as a euro pacesetter developed into one of euro laggard. So why, prior to the sovereign debt crisis, did Poland remain among the group of Central and East European countries that had not yet adopted the euro? What are the political barriers for euro adoption in Poland? This paper argues that domestic factors such as the existence of veto points, public opinion, central bank institutional features, and the role of political elites are key to answering the research questions. With the euro crises, the domestic problems were accompanied by declining public support for euro adoption along with an unfavorable external environment that is pushing euro adoption further away.