EU wins Nobel Prize

The European Movement has issued this statement -

"The decision by the Nobel Committee to award the 2012 Nobel Peace prize to the EU is of symbolic significance. It is a recognition of the role the EU has paid in the preservation and spread of peace, democracy and the rule of law across Europe over the past 60 years", said Petros Fassoulas, Chairman of the European Movement UK.

The EU has been an agent of stability across the Continent, the ambition to join this club of economic and political co-operation contributed to the fight in South as well as Central and Eastern Europe against dictatorship and Communism respectively and eventual membership of the EU cemented democracy in all these countries.

What started as a Community of 6 nations has become a Union of 27 that has united a continent that only a few decades ago was ravaged by 2 world wars and was facing the prospect of nuclear conflict.

The EU today is facing challenges of institutional and economic nature. But, as efforts by Member State governments and public sentiment across the EU has shown, there is still strong support for the process of integration and commitment to make the EU work even better for its members and their citizens.

The award of the Nobel Prize is a reminder of the EU's achievements over the past 60 years and an inspiration to preserve this unique project of international and supranational co-operation and build on its successes. The European Movement calls for the UK to remain at the core of the process of European integration and co-co-operate closely with our EU partners in the efforts to promote our common interests in the globalised world we are part of."