Nobel Peace Prize

Next Monday in Oslo the Nobel Peace Prize will be formally awarded to the European Union for its role in “the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights”. When the award was first announced it was widely criticised as inappropriate, especially at a time the EU was undergoing crises over Greece and the euro. Opinions have not changed since and several EU countries will not be represented at the ceremony in Oslo although it is expected that Chancellor Merkel, President Hollande and prime minister Monti of Italy will be present. And Britain? David Cameron soon indicated that he would not be there and it was only on Monday that No 10 said the Deputy Prime Minister would attend. This small gesture of diplomatic courtesy was not helped, however, by a statement from Mr Clegg that he saw the award as “a tribute to the people, not the institution”. What would “the people” have achieved without the existence and the structure of the European Union?

I have defended this award more than once in the columns of the Bulletin and will not go over the ground again except to say that the founding of the European Union undeniably contributed significantly to the peace that Europe has enjoyed since the late 1940s after having been primarily responsible for two world wars in the previous half-century. That must be worth something.