Introduction

Abstract

When the Nobel Committee in Oslo announced that the winner of the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize was the European Union, reactions to the decision were fairly mixed. At EU headquarters in Brussels, the news was a cause of great celebration. José Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, recalled in a Twitter statement the European Union’s unique achievement of having united a continent deeply divided by two devastating world wars in a common project for peace. By contrast, politicians from the radical left as well as the populist right all over Europe mocked the decision, seeing it instead as proof of the Norwegians’ strange sense of humor. And while most leaders of EU member states readily attended the award ceremony held a few weeks later at Oslo City Hall, including Christian Democratic German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French Socialist President François Hollande, a few were notably absent, most prominently the British Prime Minister David Cameron. He sent his deputy Nick Clegg, leader of the pro-European coalition partner, the Liberal Democrats, to represent the UK. It was generally assumed that Cameron made this move to please his Conservative party’s Eurosceptic wing. On the same night, outside on the streets of Oslo hundreds of citizens joined a protest organized by leftist political groups who regarded the European Union an unworthy winner (Guardian 12 October 2012; New York Times 9 December 2012).