It's not about people being offended, but about making sure the notes are as neutral as possible, because they are used by Europeans in 17 different countries.

It's not about people being offended, but about making sure the notes are as neutral as possible, because they are used by Europeans in 17 different countries. Hence the imaginary buildings on the notes, instead of real national monuments. It doesn't matter if the interpretation of the watermark is ludicrous or absurd, the fact is that they had a million options for the watermark that nobody would ever take note of, but they chose the mythological Europe, opening the door for euro-sceptics to mock the notes, the Euro and the EU. I'm not talking hypothetically here, the extreme right-wing leader of one of our most euro-phobic political parties has already twittered about this watermark. I think it is safe to assume this only fuels Euro-hate of his (non-insignificant) electorate even further.