The European Commission celebrated the euro’s extraordinary journey with an event on 3 December in Brussels. Eminent journalists, current and former EU officials, political leaders, academics and business people participated in the #EUROat20 event. According to Beppe Severgnini, columnist for Corriere della Sera, younger Europeans need to remember what life was like before the euro. “Imagine if for one day we all went back to life before the euro... people would go mad,” he said. Danièle Nouy, Chair of the Supervisory Board, European Central Bank, said: “We should never forget that before the EU, we were killing each other by the millions in Europe. For that alone Europe is a success.” Participants agreed, however, that the euro is a work-in-progress. Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis noted that the EMU is still unfinished and former president of the ECB Jean-Claude Trichet pointed out that as with the US, “an economic and monetary union takes time.” Several speakers called for greater deepening. ECFIN Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said that “a substantial Eurozone budget [to reduce imbalances and withstand shocks] would be a potential game changer” while Nadia Calviño, Spain’s Minister of Economy and Enterprise, called for a backstop that includes unemployment and deposit insurance. Eva Maydell, a Member of the European Parliament, said: “We see the euro as a success story; as a common currency that has united us; as a sign of solidarity; and a process that has to continue.”