The EU’s Nobel Peace Prize

The European Union was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last week for its efforts to prevent military conflict in Europe since the end of World War II. “The EU has helped to transform most of Europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace,” said the committee’s chair, Thorbjorn Jagland. But he also warned of an “increase of extremism and nationalistic attitudes” as the 27-state union is wracked by financial turmoil, and expressed hope that the prize would remind the EU of its “fundamental aims” (see Best columns: Europe). The Norwegian Nobel Committee’s choice came as a surprise to many, as social and political pressures within the 17-member euro zone risk breaking the EU apart.

This was a well-deserved award, said Simon Nixon in The Wall Street Journal. The EU has promoted “democracy and good governance across the Continent” for 60 years. It has helped Spain and Greece overcome fascist rule, and created a “bulwark of stability” for Eastern European countries freed from the burden of Soviet occupation. Its single market has “paved the way for a huge expansion in trade,” binding Europe together and guaranteeing an end to conflict.

Tell that to the immigrants “threatened by Europe’s resurgent fascist parties,” said Andrew Roberts in Bloomberg.com, or to the Greek shopkeeper forced to “board up his shop for weeks at a time” because of riots. What “fabulous ignorance” to reward the European Union for keeping the peace, just as its autocratic, anti-capitalist system looks set to collapse into mayhem.

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That timing is no accident, said Michael Moynihan in TheDailyBeast.com. The EU was rewarded not for deeds it has done, but for “future expected ones”—like bailing out Greece, Spain, and Italy. The Nobel Committee has tried to shape global policy before, of course, rewarding President Obama in 2009 for setting a new tone in U.S. foreign affairs. And yet today, “wars continue” and “drones fall.” It’s a humbling reminder that this “yearly exercise in moral preening” has little impact on the real world.