European Union awarded 2012 Nobel Prize for peace

The Nobel Prize committee decided to award this year's Nobel Prize for peace to the European Union for its continued efforts to promote peace and democracy in Europe, despite all previous differences that divided Europe.

The Norwegian prize committee awarded the Nobel Prize for peace to EU for six decades of contributions "to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe,'' since the bloc was created in the 1950s.

"The stabilising part played by the European Union has helped to transform a once torn Europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace," Nobel committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said.

The EU rose from the ashes of World War II, born of the conviction that ever-closer economic ties would make sure that century-old enemies never turned on each other again.

''Over a seventy-year period, Germany and France had fought three wars. Today war between Germany and France is unthinkable. This shows how, through well-aimed efforts and by building up mutual confidence, historical enemies can become close partners.''

It was French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman who on 9 may 1950 first proposes that France and the Federal Republic of Germany pool their coal and steel resources in a new organisation that other European countries could join.