The European Union received the Nobel Peace Prize on Monday for promoting peace and human rights in Europe following the devastation of World War II, and the bloc was urged to use that unity in its battle with the region's economic crisis. 
 
 People walk with torches to protest against the awarding to the Peace Prize to the EU bloc, in Oslo, Norway, Sunday Dec. 9, 2012. The Nobel Peace Prize Committee awarded the prize to the European Union... (Associated Press) 
 
 A placard of Alfred Nobel is displayed during the Nobel Peace Prize winner media conference, at the Nobel institute in Oslo, Norway, Sunday Dec. 9, 2012. The Nobel Peace Prize Committee awarded the prize... (Associated Press) 
 
 About 20 European government leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, attended the ceremony in the Norwegian capital. 
 
 But not everyone approved the decision to give the prize to the EU, which was created 60 years ago. 
 
 Three Peace Prize laureates _ South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mairead Maguire of Northern Ireland and Adolfo Perez Esquivel from Argentina _ have demanded that prize money of $1.2 million not be paid this year. They said the bloc contradicts the values associated with the prize because it relies on military force to ensure security. 
 
 Amnesty International said Monday that EU leaders should not "bask in the glow of the prize," warning that xenophobia and intolerance are now on the rise in the continent of 500 million people. 
 
 Prize committee Chairman Thorbjoern Jagland handed the Nobel diplomas and medals to EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy and president of the EU Parliament Martin Schulz at a ceremony of in Oslo's City Hall. 
 
 Jagland said the EU was instrumental in making "a continent of war (become) a continent of peace." 
 
 "In this process the European Union has figured most prominently," he told an applauding gathering of several hundred people. 
 
 This year's prize comes against a backdrop of protests as the debt crisis for countries using the euro currency triggers tensions within the union, causing soaring unemployment and requiring massive austerity measures. 
 
 In his speech, Jagland said that European unity has become even more important as the EU battles its financial problems. 
 
 "The political framework in which the union is rooted is more important now than ever," he said. "We must stand together. We have collective responsibility." 
 
 Jagland said the awarding committee had decided to honor the EU, which grew out of the conviction that ever-closer economic ties would make sure that century-old enemies such as Germany and France never turned on each other again. 
 
 He described that reconciliation as "probably the most dramatic example in history to show that war and conflict can be turned so rapidly into peace and cooperation." 
 
 He said the presence of Merkel and Hollande on Monday made "this day very particular, symbolic for all of us," prompting applause and bows from the two leaders. 
 
 The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death in 1896. Similar ceremonies are to be held in the Swedish capital for the Nobel laureates in medicine, chemistry, physics and literature. ||||| 1 of 18. Guests gather near a bust of dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel in the Stockholm Concert Hall prior to the Nobel prize award ceremony in Stockholm December 10, 2012. 
 
 STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden held its annual Nobel awards ceremony on Monday attended by laureates, royals and the Who's Who of Swedish society with little evidence of the cost-cutting forced upon it by a downturn in the global economy. 
 
 More than 1,200 glittering guests - women in elegant gowns and men in white tie and tails - gingerly made their way over slippery snow and ice to the Nobel dinner in Stockholm City Hall to dine, chat and hear Nobel literature winner Mo Yan and other laureates speak at Sweden's most prestigious social event. 
 
 Mo did his best to again steer clear of human rights issues after refusing last week to publicly back a petition by fellow laureates to free jailed compatriot and Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo. 
 
 "I am well aware that literature only has a minimal influence on political disputes or economic crises in the world," Mo said in a translated speech that was prepared in advance and distributed to guests at the banquet. 
 
 Although organizers talked of unspecified reductions in the expenditure on a night which cost 20 million Swedish crowns ($3 million) last year, frugality was not a feature that stood out among the fine French wines, cuisine from top Swedish chefs and the trapeze artists who entertained diners between courses. 
 
 "There have been some cuts," Nobel Foundation Executive Director Lars Heikensten told reporters ahead of the banquet, but refusing to give any details. "You will not notice them." 
 
 BOOGIE 
 
 For more than a century, the foundation has managed the roughly $450 million capital that forms the base for the awards, donated in the will of dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel. But in recent years returns have suffered amid the global crisis. 
 
 "We are in this forever and we should safeguard it (the prize)," said Heikensten, a former Swedish central bank chief known for reducing staff during his tenure. 
 
 The awards are now worth $1.2 million each, down from around $1.5 million in recent years. 
 
 Still, Monday evening's festivities at Stockholm's City Hall - itself decorated with 11 kg of gold leaf - were never likely to be spartan. 
 
 Details of a menu, which included Joseph Perrier Cuvée Royale Champagne and pheasant with chanterelle mushrooms, were only revealed minutes before the food was served. Guests at the event touted as one of the world's biggest set dinners ate from some 7,000 pieces of porcelain using 10,000 items of silverware and drank from 5,400 glasses. 
 
 There was also a fair share of bling on show, from jewel encrusted handbags to glittering tiaras, as Sweden's small and influential political and business elite jettisoned its famed egalitarian image to hobnob with diplomats and political leaders from around the globe. 
 
 The strict dress code - white tie and tails for men and gowns for women - was complemented by a similarly strict code of behavior. 
 
 Toasting, for example, is done Swedish style: raise your glass, look your table companions in the eyes, swing the glass in the air ever so slightly - no clinking - sip and repeat eye contact before setting the glass down. 
 
 However, the formal setting did not dissuade guests from having an after-dinner boogie on the dance floor to the music of Swedish pop group ABBA and other hits played by a live band. 
 
 Neighboring Norway was expected to have Australian pop-princess Kylie Minogue perform as the European Union receives this year's Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Oslo on Monday. 
 
 The EU's win raised a few eyebrows when announced in October. 
 
 ($1 = 6.6344 Swedish crowns) 
 
 (Editing by Paul Casciato)
– The European Union officially received the Nobel Peace Prize today in an Oslo ceremony attended by some 20 EU leaders, including Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande, and UK deputy PM Nick Clegg. The prize committee applauded the EU's efforts toward peace in Europe after World War II, and called leaders to work together amid the economic crisis, the AP notes. This year's ceremony was more austere than usual, with prize money cut 20% and fewer chauffeured cars for winners, Reuters reports. Protesters in Oslo and worldwide voiced opposition to the award. Previous winners, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Northern Ireland's Mairead Maguire, and Argentina's Adolfo Perez Esquivel, said the $1.2 million in prize money shouldn't be paid out this year; the EU, they said, uses military power for security, which isn't in keeping with the prize's ideals. Yesterday, hundreds of protesters took to the streets in Oslo, chanting, "The EU is not a worthy winner," the New York Times reports. Peace activists argued that a prize initially aimed at disarmament shouldn't go to the bloc, while a Greek MP said the EU had "pushed my country and the whole of southern Europe back to the Middle Ages."