The EU.
Yes really.
"Thorbjørn Jagland, head of the Oslo-based Nobel Committee, justified the award by stressing the EU’s role in bringing France and Germany closer together, and by helping strengthen democracy in southern as well as central and eastern Europe"
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Although it became meaningless after it was given to Kissinger imho.
As I have seen written on another blog:
"I'm 27 years old, and I'm in only the second generation of Europeans not to be conscripted and sent to fight and die and kill other Europeans. This is not only because of the EU, but it has played a large role.
That deserves a prize, I'd say."
The fact is, the EU should never have let Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy joined the Euro in the first place but they want to this political dream of turning Europe into United States of Europe. Each Country has different economics but if the EU wanted the Euro to start and work properly, they should have involved the richer countries, not the southern Countries whose Economic's are weaker.
I don't give too much toss about the Nobel Peace Prize anymore unfortunately; the lesser publicised scientific prizes are where I think there's some real credit due.
It's about time they remembered what they did in 1948 and just not give it out when there isn't actually a suitable candidate.
I would go as far as to say it actually undermines Henry Dunant and the other early laureates in my mind. I wonder what Alfred Noble would actually think. Unless you're dyslexic and get EU and UN confused then no.
The UN (replacing the failed model of the League of Nations) is going to be largely to thank for that, combined with far too many factors to even begin to count.
Arguments like that are a kin to me knocking seven shades of crap out of my friend, him going to hospital where a doctor says "You're both bloody idiots" and me praising the doctor for ending any future problems. It's correlation not causation; we have no idea what would've happened differently, if anything, without the formation of the EU.
If you want to test what they say, take a holiday in Alsace. Visit the graves there of British soldiers from two world wars . Then stand near the Rhine bridge at Strasbourg, and watch how the Germans pile across to France for lunch, while the French pile across in the other direction for their jobs. It is not just the fact of what they do. It is the supreme ordinariness of it all that will finally make it dawn on you the enormity of the achievement. France and Germany will never again be at war. Similarly spend some time in the Netherlands, e.g in Arnhem, with business people who happily work with their German colleagues and put aside the animosity which is if anything greaterin the people than with the French. Ironically they do this in the English language, and I have had some Dutch business managers tell me that they think English should be the official language of the Netherlands.
I can't expect many of you to have first hand experience of the effect of EU accession on the former Communist countries, but it is enormous. When I first arrived in the Czech Republic in 1993, it wasn't a fully formed democracy, and most public institutions didnt work like in a normal country. There was no guarantee it would make it to 'normal' Europe. The goal of EU accession allowed good people in these countries to wage a war against authoritarianism, cronyism, corruption and denial of human rights, all in the name of "Europe". It wasn't just a vague concept. The EU has norms and principles, which the new countries have to conform to. It's true that too many countries have been allowed not to conform to them sufficiently, but that is not the fault of the EU but of individual national politicians who compromised on the principles.
You may find this hard to comprehend but the average educated Bulgarian says "Laws made in Brussels? Bring them on. And while we are at it, can you bring us British judges and police to enforce them?". The same process is happening in Croatia, where there are still some very ugly and sinister people and attitudes, but again the good people of that country have defeated them, with the goal of EU entry and support from the EU for doing it.
I hope some of you who posted some of the comments above (e.g 'it's all down to the UN') will think carefully about what I've written, and I'm happy to debate it further. Looking forward to Len :-)
As far as European countries interacting with one another. I believe most of the anti-EU campaigners agree with you and believe European countries trading with one another is a good thing. It's all down to this political union who everybody is against and does not believe un-elected EU politicans bossing European countries what they should be doing and when to not have a general election. That is democracy taken away.
To suggest that the EU has prevented wars at present and in the future is laughable, take a look at Yugoslavia for example, a Country that was formed in 1918 with the likes of Croatia and Moldolva being part of this union and it ended going back to where it was with a civil war which broke up this Union. The EU wants to do the same like Yugoslavia did in 1918 and create a United States of Europe, believe me there are facts on this.
As for EU human rights, are you seriously suggesting that the likes of Bulgaria and Croatia don't have one single politican who can sort these issues out without any EU involment at all? I will be extremely amazed if that is the case, especially if the average Bulgarian welcomes the EU human rights act.
I don't really know much about the political side in Czech Republic but what exactly made Solvakia and Czech Republic become two seperate countries?
Switzerland - so wealthy for a bunch of cuckoo clock makers - makes me sick. Bed time
Land of cheap beer, beautiful women, and better managed football (at least in Germany). You really should try it :-)
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