Macron sill faces mammoth task as the old bogeymen still set to haunt the euro longer term

With France’s presidential elections over and the nation now in the “safe hands” of independent Emmanuel Macron, the euro should have escaped the jaws of death.

Markets have been spared the fate of a French exit (Frexit) from the European single currency, threatened by the National Front’s Marine Le Pen. By rights, markets should breathe a sigh of relief, leaving the decks clear for a euro lift-off.

Peace is unlikely to last too long. Notwithstanding a spell of post-poll euphoria, the old bogeymen are set to haunt the euro in the longer term. The rising tide of anti-euro polemic and populism might have been held at bay in France this time, but Europe’s existential crisis of national identity versus increasingly centralised Brussels power-building is still bubbling over. The euro is not out of the woods by a long stretch of the imagination.

The list of problems hanging over Europe is endless. How policymakers deal with cranking up growth and employment once the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing taps are turned off later this year is one of the biggest challenges facing European unity ahead. The disparities between Europe’s rich and poor nations are feeding cancerous politics of envy and populism within the European Union.

Wealth inequality and the lack of job opportunities for young and old outside of prosperous Germany are becoming more acute. The EU should be a level playing field for all nations to enjoy but statistics tell a very different story. Germany is running close to full employment, while distressed economies in southern Europe are suffering unemployment rates bordering 20 per cent.