OSLO, Norway — The European Union was awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize Friday for its efforts to promote peace and democracy in
Europe, in the midst of the union's biggest crisis since its
creation in the 1950s. The award was given to the 27-nation bloc
because it had "for over six decades contributed to the
advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human
rights in Europe," Nobel committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland
said. The committee praised the EU not only for rebuilding after
World War II, but also for its role in spreading stability to
former communist countries after the 1989 fall of the Berlin
Wall. "The stabilizing part played by the European Union has
helped to transform a once torn Europe from a continent of war
to a continent of peace," Jagland said. The President of the
European Parliament Martin Schulz responded to the Norwegian
Nobel Committee announcement on Twitter, saying that the "EU is
an unique project that replaced war with peace, hate with
solidarity." "Deeply touched honoured