Polish finance minister says no target date for euro entry yet

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Polish Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski denied on Monday that Poland was planning to adopt the euro in 2015, after a senior European Union official said Warsaw was targeting that date to replace the zloty.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz told a briefing ahead of a summit of EU leaders in Brussels that Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk had told him he was hoping Poland would join the euro zone in three years' time.

"We don't have such plans," Rostowski later told reporters. He said Poland might be able to meet the euro zone entry criteria on deficits by then but was unlikely to ensure sufficient currency stability -- also a requirement -- by 2015.

"We do want to meet the fiscal criteria," Rostowski said.

Government officials have said in recent months that while joining the euro remains a strategic goal, Poland first wants to see the euro zone solve its debt problems.

Unlike Britain or Denmark, Poland and the other ex-communist countries to have joined the EU since 2004 have no legal opt-out from the common currency.

Countries that want to join have to meet five targets, known as Maastricht criteria, that set limits on debt, inflation, currency stability, interest rates and budget deficits.

(Reporting by Justyna Pawlak; editing by Luke Baker)