EU awarded Nobel Peace Prize
1,460 views · Published 15 October 2012 · 1:51 · Indexed 15 October 2026
Channel: European Parliament · 2012 · News & Politics
Union is singled out for 'advancement of peace, democracy and human rights' in Europe in the past six decades. For many, the announcement by the Nobel Committee, naming the EU as this year's Peace Prize winner, came as a big surprise. All the more welcome for the troubles the EU is experiencing today. The Nobel Committee said the EU had transformed Europe from a continent of wars to one of peace. It's a historic decision which should encourage the European Union. It shows that a considerate Nobel Prize Committee has recognised the value that European unity represents for us all. Securing peace and prosperity in Europe and also promoting it in the world can't be estimated highly enough. Europe's leaders were quick to applaud the recognition of what the Nobel Committee said was the EU's most important achievement, advancing peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights. I do think that the Nobel Prize Committee has recognised that it's the European Parliament that stands for European unity based on our common values. That surely played a role. The EU was born of the mass killing and destruction of World War II, a body of European leaders who determined never to let the violence and division return. The common interests of Europeans, within a framework of peace and their human and democratic rights, have driven evolution of the EU through the decades. Today's challenges, with anti-austerity protests exploding in Spain and Greece, are of a different order. To me, this is a mandate to further drive European unification. It's an appeal to all of us to accomplish Europe and not to be done with it. Next question: Who will actually collect the Prize in Norway this December? The Council, the Commission, the Parliament, the Cypriot Presidency? Or, in the spirit of European compromise, all four? EuroparlTV video ID: 60d7c381-7f6d-4c1c-b688-a0e8010dfa6d
