Disconcerting response in part. The response to the EU being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize has been partly disconcerting. A few opinion polls are negative - the large majority of citizens who were questioned answered that the prize was not deserved. Some political forces have taken the same line, be it ironically - especially in Great Britain, or be it with a grudge - according to the Greek Syriza coalition the prize is “an insult for European people who face anti-social measures that are leading to the break-up of social unity and democracy”.
This result confirms that: (1) Europe is currently viewed badly by a large part of the population, because it is considered responsible for the austerity measures applied in most member states; (2) the meaning of the Nobel Peace Prize has been misunderstood.
The first point doesn't call for much comment. Populations largely attribute to the EU the responsibility for the sacrifices and efforts that are imposed upon them, while forgetting or disregarding everything that has been discovered - and that is still being discovered - at the national level with regard to abuse, negligence and embezzlement. The European authorities have committed their faults and abuses, but this is nothing in comparison with what we are hearing about in most member states or with regard to the behaviour of the financial world.
The true meaning. Yet the meaning of the Nobel Prize is evident. It's the transformation of Europe - yesterday a continent at war, today a continent in peace; the birth of a present and a future without armed conflicts, when Europe has for centuries been the root and cause of all the wars.
On top of these general remarks, there are a few specific aspects why the prize was awarded - the end of the separation between East and West of the continent, the progressive peace-making in the Balkans, and the extension of democratic rules and human rights to Turkey. This is the first time a Nobel Prize has been given not to a personality or personality group, but to an area - to a continent.
Historians have explained and justified this unprecedented choice by recalling what Europe was - even until recently: “We can imagine nothing more absurd than the First World War, where Germany and Russia, France and the Austro-Hungarian empire, England and Italy destroyed each other in the name of misunderstood national interests. We can imagine nothing more sinister than the years 1919 to 1945, when Europe experienced at the same time Nazism, communism and fascism.”
The generations which then followed - not only the young people of today, but also those who are 60 or even older - seem to ignore what Europe was yesterday. They ought to reflect on this before slandering and condemning today's Europe.
Two initiatives. Overall, the negative or ironic responses cited above are far less common than the positive responses. EUROPE has reported on them. Let me limit myself to two remarks from MEPs:
(1) Daniel Cohn-Bendit has looked ahead - now that the EU has obtained formal recognition as a power of peace it should ask for a seat at the United Nations Security Council. It is true that member states would have to be persuaded, which currently hold this seat in a national capacity…
(2) Alain Lamassoure and Franziska Brantner have relaunched the European Institute of Peace project, supported by the European Parliament budgets committee and by Sweden and Finland. The next feasibility study requested by the Parliament will soon be presented, opening the door for an initial public debate.
Jacques Delors to Oslo? The question is now being asked - who will go to Oslo on 10 December to collect the Nobel Prize on behalf of Europe? Herman Van Rompuy, José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz or High Representative for “foreign affairs” Catherine Ashton have all been mentioned. Will they all go together?
Here's a suggestion - why not designate a protagonist for the construction of European unity? Given that Spinelli, Monnet, Adenauer, Spaak and others too are no longer with us, one name would seem to jump out - Jacques Delors. His response to the award attributed to Europe was marked by confidence: “The construction of Europe has never been a long, tranquil river, but has always overcome crises thanks to new steps forward. This Nobel Prize encourages our work of history to be continued with clear vision and courage.”
It's evident then that his confidence in the European construction remains, as to its substance, intact. (FR/transl.fl)