Jeffrey Frankel says despite 64% approval in the eurozone, the single currency still has challenges to master. This requires European leaders to identify the problems and learn from “past mistakes” so that in the long term, the monetary union will “survive and even thrive in the future.”

The author is rightly critical of the “application of a common currency to a large and varied set of countries”. Some of which, like Greece, would not have qualified for membership, had it not falsified its data on public finances. The formation of the euro paid no attention to current account positions of the prospective member countries. Critics said current account deficits were substantial in some eurozone countries during the euro’s first decade.

The 2008 financial crisis caught Europe off guard and highlighted the unsustainable borrowing patterns following the mountain of debt accumulated in previous years. The current account imbalances had been drastically reduced since the 2008 crisis but only at the expense of deflation and recession. There appears no way for many eurozone countries to achieve high employment and sustainable current account positions.

The fiscal rules “proved un-enforceable. Virtually all eurozone members (including Germany) soon breached the 3% deficit ceiling.” The problem is that the “one size fits all” approach to fiscal policy requires all member countries to strive for budgets in balance or surplus, no matter what their requirement for public investment and no matter what the economic circumstances. The author doubts whether fiscal targets would be “achieved” in the future.

The euro aims to bring shared prosperity, enhance solidarity and advance the goal of European integration. But critics say it has done just the opposite, slowing growth and sowing discord. While political imperatives behind the euro make its survival probable, but without major changes to address current account problems with the effective abandonment of the pro-cyclical fiscal policy, it will not “put the eurozone on a strong footing to weather future crises.”

The author has words of praise for the euro’s smooth transition from 11 currencies to one single currency. It found acceptance within the international community and became the “world’s second global reserve currency.” Under Mario Draghi’s leadership the European Central Bank (ECB) proved robust, deserving “top marks for balancing Germany’s demand for fiscal discipline and the Mediterranean need for accommodation,” and shifting the focus from fighting inflation to curbing deflation.

Contrary to doomsayers’ verdict, the euro will survive. Europe's economic future is likely to be one of neither triumph nor tragedy. And while the euro is not likely to overtake the dollar as dominant international currency anytime soon, neither will the eurozone collapse. Even French and Italian populists have backed away from the idea of ditching the single currency, in part because the population still largely supports euro membership.

Eurozone countries have, with the help of ECB, showed a remarkable ability to muddle through, in part because so much political capital has been invested in the project. The institutions put in place since 2010 – such as the European Stability Mechanism bailout fund, the banking union with its new regulations on bank resolution, and, the Outright Monetary Transactions programme are issues that are being discussed in reforming the EU. It remains to be seen whether there is political will to support Emmanuel Macron’s reform agenda.