Europe Could See Formation of Southern and Northern Unions – Piskorski

The eurozone may shrink, with some EU member states pondering the abandonment of the euro and returning to their national currency, Mateusz Piskorski, the head of Poland's Zmiana (Change) party, told Sputnik on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Yulia Shamporova — On Tuesday, an ICM Research poll conducted exclusively for Sputnik revealed that about one-third of those polled in France, Germany and Greece supported the idea of returning to national currencies. However, 53 percent of respondents, said they wanted to continue using the euro.

"If the idea of European financial solidarity will not be awakened by some political movement or other political changes, then we might talk about at least limiting the zone of euro currency and dividing European Union to the countries of A-category and B-category," Piskorski said.

The politician said that, in his observation, many people in Northern European countries perceive Southern Europe as corrupt, inefficient and economically weak. These opinions, according to Piskorski, could potentially see the establishment of Northern and Southern European unions.

The economies of Southern European countries, such as Portugal, Spain, Italy, and especially Greece, were hit by the global financial crisis in 2008-2009 particularly hard.

Greece, with a current estimated $350-billion debt, is reliant on loans from international creditors. The United Kingdom, Germany and France are Greece’s major creditors within the European Union.