During a solemn ceremony in Oslo, EU Council president Herman Van Rompuy, Commission president José Manuel Barroso and European Parliament president Martin Schulz received today the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of Europe’s 500 million citizens.
Besides the critics of many, this prize was to witness a fact which no book of history can deny: our continent unity guaranteed six decades of peace and democracy for us and the whole world. There is no spread or financial vocabulary word that can delete what Europe meant since the Rome Treaty was signed in 1957, after two world wars had left destruction and death in the continent.
It is easier to think about our continent political organization as something more economic-oriented, especially after the crisis. But we should not forget - and here it comes the real meaning of the EU Nobel Peace Prize - that our common values and history, together with our different cultures and languages make the European Union something more than just a common currency. Europe is more. You will never find the special diversity all we European people have in a so small 10 million squared kilometers space. There is simply no equivalent all around the world.
For this reason, I deeply believe today's Nobel was not only deserved for EU's role in world peace but also, at least from my point of view, since it has been a very important step in the direction of the United States of Europe.
AV
