The EU has won the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize and it is a well-deserved award too. In times when the daily news coverage is dominated by the woes of the eurozone this is a timely reminder of the Union's historic achievements. Too often people fail to see the wood for the trees as commentators and citizens end up discussing obscure bailout mechanisms, daily movements of interest rates on sovereign debt and Europe's economic policies. This narrow focus is not without consequences.
The growing distrust amongst European citizens and the accelerating erosion of Europe's political unity is the result of a disastrous course in economic policy that has made a serious crisis much worse. The lowest common denominator is that the Euro needs to be saved but the rest is beyond satire. People in crisis countries quite rightly feel that the help they receive comes with unbearable - and counterproductive - conditions that undermine their democracies, pride and dignity. And Germany is in the bizarre position that it does and will continue to provide large-scale financial help and is still loathed in Europe's south.
But all of these daily woes are put into perspective if you take a longer view and consider the achievements of six decades of European integration. Out of the rubbles of two world wars emerged an unprecedented political project that has brought peace and stability to a continent that was notoriously driven by war. Today an armed conflict between Germany and France is unthinkable. For this achievement alone the EU deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.
But the Nobels do not only look into the past but send a message about the present day too. Given that the EU has a long history of nominations the timing of this award is no coincidence. The EU faces severe challenges and it is true that the historic achievement of European peace will not be enough to sustain the European integration project going forward. The future challenge of the Union is that it has to become a Union of citizens that ensures democratic, social and economic stability that can also be a role model for other troubled regions that seek to leave a history of war behind them and build a future of hope and prosperity.
In order to achieve this the EU will have to overcome its current crisis and reinvent itself. But when comparing the historic accomplishment of turning a blood-thirsty continent into an area of peace with the predicament of the eurozone, the current economic crisis looks utterly manageable. The Nobel Peace Prize is well deserved but it must not be solely seen as a recognition of past achievements but also as an encouragement to tackle the challenges of the future.
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Post war Germany was divided by the Allied Powers (USSR. USA, UK and France) and remained so until 1989 when the Berlin Wall (1961 to 1989) fell and East German authorities effectively ceased to exsist. East and West Germany were formally re-united in October 1990. However, troops from Britain and the USA still remain in Germany, though not as an occupying force.
Taking the above into account it is hard to see how two members of NATO, one occupied, could go to war with each other. The likelihood of war in Europe was the same as that of Wales and Scotland combining to launch a sneak attack on Essex.
The EU is a vehicle for self-important politicians, civil servants and their hangers on, who are the ones who benefit most from it, while the rest of us have to pick up the tab and keep quiet, so they can lecture us some more.
Not only does the EU not deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. The very fact that it was awarded, shows that there should be a rethink about the the whole Nobel industry. If they don't suspend it for a rethink, the least that should happen, is that it should only be awarded as and when, with at least some nod to common sense. Which is a property sadly missing in political circles, unlike blinkered and delusional thinking.
Europe has been at peace because of free market trade between the countries, this prevented wars, as did Nuclear weapons.
Both opposed by the far left of course.
The EU is simply corrupt politicians who line their own pockets and their friends while leaving the poor poor.
The EU is the worst form of old boys network or socialism and riddled with corruption and racism.
The free trade is at the heart of the EU, the only reason there is free trade in Europe in fact!
The left have been the greatest supporters of the EU in Europe. The UK's anti-EU sentiment is firmly Conservative... The Labor parties of Europe are pro-EU and free trade.
It's perfectly acceptable according to Norwegian laws [where the Peace Prize is decided and handed out].
Today the European Union got the Nobel Peace Prize for the end of war. I wonder who will win the Nobel Peace Prize for the end of this new form of domination and exploitation, ran by the financial/banking system that is actually responsible for the current crises and misery of all.
If the EU deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for making war between Germany and France unthinkable since the EU was formed in 1993, then how much does NATO deserve the prize for making war between Germany and France unthinkable since 1949?