Courtesy of the European Parliament

At an informal meeting of European finance ministers in Nicosia, Cyprus, Polish Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski said that the country would not hurry to join the EU’s planned banking union.

“At the current stage of development, the proposal presented by the European Commission is completely beyond our interest. We just can’t join a body in which we would have no vote while being subject to its decisions,” said Mr Rostowski.

The banking union has been suggested to address the roots of the crisis and prevent it from recurring. A proposal for the creation of such a union was put forward by José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, in May.

The EC wants to give the European Central Bank supervisory power over all banks in the euro zone, “with a mechanism for non-euro countries to join on a voluntary basis,” the EU executive said in a statement.

Countries outside the euro zone would only be allowed to “cooperate closely” with the banking union but would not count as full-fledged members, EU Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski told journalists last week. They would therefore not have the right to vote.

Poland A.M.