EU awarded Nobel Peace Prize for reconciling war-torn continent

The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on the 12 October 2012 that it had decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2012 was to be awarded to the European Union (EU). The union and its forerunners had for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe.

The EU was currently undergoing grave economic difficulties and considerable social unrest. The Norwegian Nobel Committee wished to focus on what it saw as the EU’s most important result: the successful struggle for peace and reconciliation and for democracy and human rights. The stabilizing part played by the EU had helped to transform most of Europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace.

The work of the EU represents "fraternity between nations", and amounts to a form of the "peace congresses" to which Alfred Nobel referred as criteria for the Peace Prize in his 1895 will.

• Primary Source

Nobel Peace Prize: Nobel Peace Prize 2012 http://nobelpeaceprize.org/en_GB/laureates/laureates-2012/announce-2012/

European Commission: RAPID: MEMO/12/779: Joint statement of José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, and Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council on the award of the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize to the EU http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-12-779_en.htm

BBC News, 12.10.12: Nobel Peace Prize awarded to European Union http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19921072

Deutsche Welle, 12.10.12: Focus on strengths in reaction to peace prize http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,16303076,00.html

France24, 12.10.12; EU wins 2012 Nobel Peace Prize http://www.france24.com/en/20121012-european-union-wins-2012-nobel-prize-peace-reconciliation-eu-democracy

Spiegel Online International, 12.10.12: European Union Wins Nobel Peace Prize http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/european-union-awarded-2012-nobel-peace-prize-a-860944.html

Spiegel Online International, 12.10.12: Euroskeptics Call Nobel Honor an 'April Fool's Joke' http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/euroskeptics-deride-nobel-honor-for-european-union-a-861051.html

EUObserver, 13.10.12: Pride, confusion and sour grapes after EU wins Nobel http://euobserver.com/institutional/117852

Blog: Open Europe, 12.10.12: EU and the Nobel peace prize: the once-celebrated actor who just got a life-time achievement award? http://openeuropeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/eu-and-nobel-peace-prize-old-actor-who.html

European Commission: Speech/12/724: Statement by President Barroso following the award of the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-12-724_en.htm

Süddeutsche Zeitung / La Tribune / El País / NRC Handelsblad / Público, 13.10.12: A prize that “could not have come at a better time” (via PressEurop) http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/press-review/2860591-prize-could-not-have-come-better-time

EUObserver, 19.10.12: Barroso and Van Rompuy win battle for Nobel limelight http://euobserver.com/news/117926

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