Oslo: The 2012 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the European Union (EU) for contributing to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe for over six decades .
An hour before the official announcement, Norway's NRK public radio had said that the EU will win the award.
The prize, worth $1.2 million, will be presented in Oslo on December 10. The decision by the five-member panel, led by Council of Europe Secretary-General Thorbjoern Jagland, was unanimous.
"We have had confirmation from people whom we trust who say that it is the EU that will get the prize," NRK radio had said, an hour before the prize announcement. It is not often that the winner’s name gets leaked in advance.
Founded with the Treaty of Rome in 1957 with a community of six nations seeking greater economic integration, the bloc has expanded to 27 including east European states added since the Cold War.
But the EU is mired in crisis with strains on the euro, the common currency shared by 17 nations.
The prize was a surprise, especially given the EU's current woes. And many Norwegians are bitterly opposed to the EU, seeing it as a threat to the sovereignty of nation states.
Norway, the home of the peace prize, has voted "no" twice to joining the EU, in 1972 and 1994. The country has prospered outside the EU, partly thanks to huge oil and gas resources.
Comments
0 comment