In June 2024, the European Commission assessed that it was justified to open the excessive deficit procedure, among others, for Poland. In the EC’s assessment, the published report justifies the initiation of the excessive deficit procedure for seven countries: Belgium, France, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Poland, and Slovakia.
In 2015, the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party won the elections, promising a significant new social support program. In March 2016, with a majority in the parliament, PiS introduced the “Family 500+” program, which provided an additional payment of PLN 500 per child per month. Initially, the program was for a second and subsequent child in a family, but later it was extended to include the first child as well.
Poland has been a member of the European Union since 2004, but has not decided to join the monetary union yet. Have Poland benefited or lost from this decision? For the last two years, starting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Polish zloty, like other currencies of Central European countries, has been significantly depreciated.
