Brussels, 08/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - The award of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2010 to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was warmly welcomed by the EU institutions on Friday 8 October - despite the risk of further souring already uneasy relations, after the rather sudden close of the EU-China summit in Brussels on Wednesday evening which ended with a serious diplomatic incident. The Chinese delegation led by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao demanded that Council security staff prevent non-official Chinese journalists, though they were accredited by the EU institutions, from attending the planned final press conference with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and Commission President José Manuel Barroso. When the European leaders, on the grounds of freedom of the press, refused to accede to this demand, the Chinese delegation decided not to take part in the press conference.
“Liu Xiaobo stands for the values of the EU.” The award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo is a “strong message of support to all those around the world who, sometimes with great personal sacrifice, are struggling for freedom and human rights,” Barroso said. These values, he went on, are at the core of the EU. However, in his statement of congratulations, Barroso did not call for Liu Xiaobo's release. European Parliament (EP) President Jerzy Buzek said that Liu Xiaobo “stands for the values and fundamental freedoms that the European Union and the European Parliament regard as cornerstones of society”. Buzek also called for him to be released “immediately and unconditionally”. By the late afternoon of Friday, Permanent President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy had still not given an official reaction. “It is not planned at this point that he make a statement. Others throughout Europe have expressed their views,” one source said. Leader of the Greens in the EP, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, was pleased that the Nobel Foundation had “resisted Chinese pressure”. “It would be wonderful if, in human rights, European governments and the European Commission were to resist as well as the Nobel Committee resisted the pressure brought to bear on them,” he added.
The Nobel Foundation in Oslo cites Liu's “long and non-violent struggle” for fundamental rights in China as justification for the award. In a press release, the Chinese foreign minister said that the award of this prestigious prize to a dissident was a violation of Nobel principles, and warned that it could damage China-Norwegian relations. (H.B./transl.rt)