NBP chief – American criticism of eurozone crisis response ‘annoying’

“There is this pressure: 'Do something! Do something!' which is especially annoying from the Americans, who can't solve their own problems, even though they are one country,” Belka (pictured left) told Dow Jones Market Watch at the Davos Economic Forum at the weekend.

Having mingled with policy-makers at the forum in Davos, Belka, a former Polish prime minister, concluded that “except for some academics, nobody really believes that the euro zone will collapse”.

He claimed that policy-makers “know what has to be done” and that “it will be done.”

Last week, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle told an audience at the Brookings Institute in Washington that American criticism of the EU’s response to the finance crisis in Greece and elsewhere was not helping the issue.

"We are either criticized for being too cautious […] or for being too dominant in dictating our own policies to others. We take both views seriously and we believe both are beside the point," Westerwelle said.

But euro-MP Pawel Zalewski, who represent's Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centre-right Civic Platform party, told Polish Radio on Monday that "the Americans did not believe in the euro zone," adding that "they were somewhat right."

Earlier this month, Poland's current premier, Donald Tusk, also made an ambigious comment about the euro zone while on an official visit to Italy.

“For as long as the euro survives, Poles will keep their word and join the single currency,” he said. (nh/pg)