Polish Finance Minister Blasts EU’s Management of Greek Crisis

The finance minister of Poland has criticized the European Union (EU) for the way it has handled the Greek financial crisis.

Poland has just assumed the presidency of the EU for a six-month term.

Jacek Rostowski believes euro zone officials have placed too much of a focus on budget cuts and austerity measures at the expense of encouraging growth.

In Warsaw, Rostowski told reporters: It's clear that everybody has made mistakes over the past year and a half. We've all been behind the curve.

However, he praised the IMF for its history of aiding financially-strapped nations.

The International Monetary Fund has a huge amount of experience... There are lots of things still that we can learn from the way the IMF does things,” he said.

The IMF has been more proactive, has tailored programs more, bringing in programs that are not seen as the first step towards bankruptcy. In the case of our European programs, that has not been fully achieved. They must change their character and by doing that, change the way they are perceived.

Although Poland has not adopted the euro as its currency, Rostowski will run meetings with EU finance ministers, and said he hopes to find a resolution to Greece’s problems.

Meanwhile, the EU and International Monetary Fund which agreed to provide Greece with a 110-billion euro bailout last year, are now considering a second massive aid package for Athens to avoid a default and help the beleaguered nations pay its bills through the end of 2014.

Referring to the decreased enthusiasm among euro zone for sending more funds to Greece, Rostowski said: What we want to do is to say: This is a common problem for all of us. We all benefit if we resolve it, and we're all going to lose dramatically if we don't resolve it.