The 2012 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the European Union.
The decision is not as bizarre as one might think. There is a precedent for organisations winning the prize – the international atomic energy association won in 2005, for instance – and the EU, although it is largely forgotten now, was formed with the aim of making war in Europe not just unthinkable, but materially impossible.
Its aims have certainly been achieved. The continent has gone from one which was torn apart by war twice in half a century, having undergone few years of peace in its entire history, to one which has earned an unprecedented lack of violent struggle – internally, at least.
Nonetheless, for all that the award may be appropriate in the big picture, the question as to why it was awarded now is more unclear. The past couple of years have not been the best in the EU’s history, certainly, and the eurocrisis has made a break-up of the union possible for almost the first time since it was founded. Adding to the strangeness is the fact that the Peace Prize is the only one awarded by Norway, rather than Sweden – and Norway isn’t even a member of the EU.
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