European Union wins Nobel peace prize | World news | The Guardian European Union wins Nobel peace prize Nobel committee praises EU as force for peace after second world war Friday 12 October 2012 06.32 EDT First published on Friday 12 October 2012 06.32 EDT Close This article is 4 years old The 2012 Nobel peace prize has been awarded to the European Union , with the Norwegian committee ignoring the current economic crisis and instead praising the EU's decades-long historical role in promoting reconciliation and peace. Speaking in Oslo, Thorbjørn Jagland, head of the Nobel committee, shrugged off the euro's woes and said the EU had been a force for peace both after the second world war, binding Germany and France together, and following the bloody slaughter of the 1990s in the Balkans. He said: "The main message is that we need to keep in mind what we have achieved on this continent, and not let the continent go into disintegration again." The collapse of the EU could lead to a resurgence of the "extremism and nationalism" that had led to so many "awful wars", he warned bluntly.

Jagland cited several key EU achievements. He said another conflict between France and Germany was "unthinkable" following 70 years as close allies. He mentioned the EU's successful expansion, with the accession of Greece, Portugal and Spain to the EU in the 1980s spreading democracy, and the admission of eastern European nations after the fall of the Berlin Wall. He also praised the EU's role in the Balkans. "Ethnically based national conflicts have been settled," he declared. Croatia will join the EU next year, Montenegro was opening up membership negotiations and Serbia has candidate status, he said. The EU had also "advanced democracy and human rights" in Turkey, he suggested, overlooking the fact that Turkey's membership application has dragged on inconclusively for decades. Jagland conceded that the 27-member bloc was not in great shape, saying: "The EU is currently undergoing grave economic difficulties and considerable social unrest." But he stressed: "The Norwegian Nobel committee wishes to focus on what it sees as the EU's most important result: the successful struggle for peace and reconciliation and for democracy and human rights.

The stabilising part played by the EU has helped to transform most of Europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace." Reaction to the news was sharply divided. Within minutes of the award being announced in Oslo at 10am GMT on Friday, the president of the European commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, tweeted : "It is a great honour for the whole of the #EU, all 500 million citizens, to be awarded the 2012 #Nobel Peace prize." He later called it a "justified recognition" of a unique project that works for the benefit of its citizens and the world. But the award provoked derision from British Eurosceptics and some rightwing Tory MPs.

Nigel Farage, the leader of Ukip, allegedly remarked: "This goes to show the Norwegians really do have a sense of humour." Another Ukip MEP, Marta Andreasen, said: "If this is their definition of peace then the Norwegians need a new dictionary." Taking questions from reporters, Jagland defended the committee's seemingly counterintuitive decision and spoke repeatedly of the wars in former Yugoslavia: "We have to keep in mind that not so many years ago people from this part of Europe killed each other in awful wars … We are only focusing on what we have achieved on this continent and what could happen if disintegration starts again." Jagland said the committee, made up of members from non-EU Norway , wasn't trying "to save the euro" or attempting to dig Europe out of its current hole. Asked what citizens from Greece, Spain and Ireland would make of their unanimous decision, he said a majority of citizens from these countries still supported the EU: "I think this historic empathy still remains in the heads of so many Europeans. They don't want to lose what has been achieved.

Many may criticise the current policy but that is a different matter." It is not clear who will actually pick up the award, to be presented in Oslo on 10 December. Jagland said it was up to "EU institutions" to decide which individual would pick up the gold medal and give a lecture at the presentation ceremony. One obvious candidate is the former German chancellor Helmut Kohl, though he is in poor health. The chairman of the Norwegian Nobel committee announces that the EU is the winner of the 2012 peace prize for its long-term role in uniting the continent Published: 12 Oct 2012 Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to European Union - The New York Times The New York Times World |Nobel Committee Gives Peace Prize to European Union Search Continue reading the main story Photo Thorbjorn Jagland, the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, announced the winner of the peace prize on Friday in Oslo. Credit Heiko Junge/European Pressphoto Agency PARIS — By naming the European Union the recipient of the 2012 peace prize on Friday, the Norwegian Nobel Committee made an unconventional choice that celebrated the bloc’s postwar integration even as a financial crisis and political infighting threaten to tear it apart.

Members of the Nobel committee lauded six decades of reconciliation among enemies who fought Europe’s bloodiest wars while simultaneously warning against the hazards of the present. The decision sounded at times like a plea to support the endangered institution at a difficult hour. “We see already now an increase of extremism and nationalistic attitudes,” said Thorbjorn Jagland, the former Norwegian prime minister who is chairman of the panel awarding the prize, in an interview after announcing the award. “There is a real danger that Europe will start disintegrating. Therefore, we should focus again on the fundamental aims of the organization.” Yet on the very day that the award was announced in Oslo, leading European policy makers again publicly bickered over how to deal with Greece’s bailout. Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, rejected calls from the French head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, to give Greece more time to make additional spending cuts to rein in deficits.

Continue reading the main story The intractable debt troubles in Greece have been at the heart of the financial crisis that has gone on for years and has taken a tremendous toll on Europe’s economy, breeding ill will between the suffering periphery and officials in Germany, who have called for painful austerity as the price of continued German support for the rising debt. Advertisement Continue reading the main story “The leader of the E.U. is Germany, which is in an economic war with southern Europe,” said Stavros Polychronopoulos, 60, a retired lawyer in Athens. “I consider this war equal to a real war. They don’t help peace.” Mr. Polychronopoulos stood Friday in the central Syntagma Square in Athens, where residue from tear gas fired by the police during demonstrations on Tuesday to protest a visit by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, still clung to the sidewalks. In light of the recent upheaval, the Nobel announcement was greeted with surprise, perplexity and, from some corners, even mockery. “The Nobel committee is a little late for an April Fool’s joke,” said Martin Callanan, a British member of the European Parliament and the leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group.

“The E.U.’s policies have exacerbated the fallout of the financial crisis and led to social unrest that we haven’t seen for a generation.” Before making its choice, the Norwegian panel — located, as it happens, in an oil-rich kingdom whose population of five million people has steadfastly resisted membership of the 27-nation European Union — weighed 231 nominations. One committee member, a Socialist critical of the union, had a stroke recently and was replaced by a more Europe-friendly moderate, ensuring the committee’s tradition of unanimous decisions. The peace prize is associated with diplomats or heads of state who have ended wars, or individuals like Mother Teresa and Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu fighting poverty or injustice. Last year’s peace prize was shared by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia; a Liberian antiwar activist, Leymah Gbowee; and Tawakkol Karman, a democracy activist in Yemen. The 2010 peace prize winner was Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese human rights campaigner.

But as it has in the past, notably in bestowing the 2009 peace prize on President Obama less than one year after he took office, the selection by the highly politicized committee sometimes reflects hope as much as achievement, seeking to bolster good intentions with a prestigious accolade that provides an unparalleled, if often contentious, global imprimatur. Photo The European Union flag atop the Reichstag building in Berlin. The peace prize recognizes the union’s postwar efforts. Credit Tobias Schwarz/Reuters Ms. Merkel called the award “an inducement and an obligation at the same time.” The announcement was taken by the European Union elite in Brussels — and by its surviving founders — as a moment of profound vindication. José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, said the award proved that the European body was “something very precious.” “It is justified recognition for a unique project that works for the benefit of its citizens and also for the benefit of the world,” he said.

“The award today by the Nobel committee shows that even in these difficult times, the European Union remains an inspiration for countries and people all over the world and that the international community needs a strong European Union.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story For all the talk of unity, however, a variety of signals suggested the opposite. European officials immediately raised the question of who would accept the peace prize on behalf of the bloc’s often bickering members, divided by tensions between its more affluent north and its struggling south. They are also frequently at odds over personality differences and critical questions, like whether Turkey should be admitted and whether the euro zone should include more countries than its current 17. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy At its headquarters in Brussels, several figureheads compete for prominence, including Mr. Barroso, the president of the European Commission, which enforces European treaties, and Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, which represents heads of European Union governments. Additionally, the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, said in a statement that his institution expected to be part of the award ceremony.

The rivalries recalled a remark ascribed to Henry A. Kissinger, the former United States secretary of state: “Who do I call if I want to call Europe?” The differences extend beyond the Continent’s many languages to broader questions of commitment to the European integration project. Some Europeans asked whether the bloc’s dismal track record in dealing with the Balkan wars of the 1990s and its performance in the current economic crisis justified a prize for spreading peace. At the news conference in Oslo to announce the award, Mr. Jagland said the committee had “no ambitions” that the $1.2 million prize would solve the multibillion-euro crisis. “The stabilizing part played by the E.U. has helped to transform most of Europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace,” he said. “The union and its forerunners have for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe.” He added: “The dreadful suffering in World War II demonstrated the need for a new Europe. Over a 70-year period, Germany and France had fought three wars.

Today, war between Germany and France is unthinkable.” He also cited the admission of Greece, Spain and Portugal in the 1980s after they emerged from dictatorships, with democracy as a condition for membership, as well as the ending of the divisions between east and west after the fall of the Berlin Wall , as successes for the European Union. “The admission of Croatia as a member next year, the opening of membership negotiations with Montenegro, and the granting of candidate status to Serbia all strengthen the process of reconciliation in the Balkans,” he said. Maurice Faure, the last living French signatory to the 1957 Treaty of Rome, which established the European Economic Community, a precursor to the modern union, called the prize “the finest reward, the official recognition of what we developed, notably peace.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story “The European Union remains a work in progress,” he said. Alan Cowell reported from Paris, and Nicholas Kulish from Berlin. Reporting was contributed by Walter Gibbs from Oslo, Stephen Castle from London, James Kanter from Brussels, Rachel Donadio from Athens, Victor Homola from Berlin, and Scott Sayare and Maïa de la Baume from Paris.

A version of this article appears in print on October 13, 2012, on Page A9 of the New York edition with the headline: Nobel Committee Gives Peace Prize to European Union. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe 2012 Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to the European Union - The Washington Post 2012 Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to the European Union The inside track on Washington politics. Be the first to know about new stories from PowerPost. Sign up to follow, and we’ll e-mail you free updates as they’re published. You’ll receive free e-mail news updates each time a new story is published. You’re all set! Skip Ad × This year’s Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the European Union. See a list of past Nobel Peace Prize winners honored before peacetime . . . or just aspirationally. View Photos A look at the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize winners and other recipients throughout the years. Caption A look at the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize winners and other recipients throughout the years.

Malala Yousafzai, left, the Pakistani teenage advocate for female education, and children's rights activist Kailash Satyarthi, right, of India, are the co-winners of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize. Andrew Gombert / Martial Trezzin/European Pressphoto Agency Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. By Anthony Faiola and Michael Birnbaum By Anthony Faiola and Michael Birnbaum October 12, 2012 Follow @Anthony_Faiola Follow @michaelbirnbaum LONDON — The European Union won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, a choice that celebrates Europe’s post-World War II economic and political integration but comes as the 27-nation body confronts widespread criticism over its handling of a massive debt crisis that has become the biggest challenge of its existence. The award honored the struggle in Europe to not only hold the union together in the wake of the debt crisis, but also to further its goal of deeper integration. Yet the decision to pay tribute to the E.U.

now fed into a growing chorus of critics who argue that the Norwegian Nobel Committee has strayed from the award’s original ideals and into the realm of political theater, with objectors putting this year’s choice in the same category as the selection of President Obama in 2009, just months after he took office. The decision, announced to audible gasps from a roomful of journalists in Oslo, came amid the widespread international perception that the E.U. has wreaked havoc in global financial markets by being bureaucratic and plodding in managing the crisis. It has also been accused of foisting onto its heavily indebted members a crushing austerity that has crippled domestic economies and sparked unrest in Greece , Spain and other nations. “Twenty years ago, this prize would have been sycophantic, but maybe more justified. Today, it is downright out of touch,” said Martin Callanan, a Conservative British politician and chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists group in the European Parliament.

“The E.U.’s policies have exacerbated the fallout of the financial crisis and led to social unrest that we haven’t seen for a generation.” By selecting the E.U., the Nobel Committee, however, appeared to be sending a message that in its darkest hour in decades, Europe should take stock in a major achievement: safeguarding peace and security and forging a common future for a continent saddled with a bloody history of conflict. 1 of 11 2012 Nobel laureates View Photos The Nobel Peace Prize was announced Friday. Winners for medicine, physics, chemistry and literature were announced earlier this week. The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced Monday. Caption Americans Alvin Roth and Lloyd Shapley were awarded the Nobel economics prize on Oct. 15 for research that helps explain the market processes at work when doctors are assigned to hospitals, students to schools and human organs for transplant to recipients. A screen displays photos of the winners of the Nobel prize in economic sciences. U.S. duo Alvin Roth and Lloyd Shapley won the prize on Oct. 15 for "the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.

Henrik Montgomery/AFP/Getty Images Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. “The dreadful suffering in World War II demonstrated the need for a new Europe,” Thorbjoern Jagland, the Nobel Committee chairman, said in Oslo. “Over a 70-year period, Germany and France had fought three wars. Today, war between Germany and France is unthinkable. This shows how, through well-aimed efforts and by building up mutual confidence, historical enemies can become close partners.” Jagland seemed to recognize the complication of selecting such a vast body for the prize: “This is a prize to the European Union. They have to decide what leader will come and receive the medal.” Nor was it clear what would happen to the estimated $1.5 million award. Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, said the award shows that “even in tense, difficult times, the European Union remains an inspiration for countries and people all over the world.” “This is indeed a great honor for the 500 million citizens of Europe,” Barroso said. But if the union has instilled democracy and peace in Europe, it has also sowed fresh resentment in recent years.

As borders have been erased around the region and trade has flowed freely, anxiety has grown in some countries over unfettered immigration as well as the economic dominance of the region by the E.U.’s core nations, Germany and France. Nationalist parties are on the rise in Finland, France, Greece and Italy. Once again the economic powerhouse of Europe, Germany has been criticized for being reluctant to extend its largess to threatened European countries, including Greece and Spain. The award also comes amid a widening gulf between the 17 E.U. nations that share the euro and the 10 nations still outside the common currency, with talk growing of a two-tiered body in which some nations would band more closely together while others would drift apart. Anti-E.U. sentiment is on the rise in nations such as Britain, which has jealously guarded the British pound and where pressure is building for the Conservative-led government of Prime Minister David Cameron to hold a national referendum on whether to exit the union.

‘The award has been depersonalized’ The move to award the prize to a vast and varied organization follows a pattern in recent years of the Nobel Committee thinking outside the box — the International Atomic Energy Agency won in 2005; and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shared the honor with Al Gore in 2007. This year’s choice also amounted to a controversial pick for the Norway-based Nobel Committee, given that voters in that country have twice rejected membership in the E.U. Critics of the decision to bestow the prize on the European Union noted that it has not been alone in heading off conflicts on the continent. As recently as the 1990s, it required the aid of the United States to settle the Balkans dispute on its own frontier. Some also chastised the committee for selecting an impersonal body. “It’s just laughable,” Svetlana Gannushkina, a longtime Russian human rights activist whom Norwegian parliamentarians said they had nominated for the award, told Interfax. “The award has been depersonalized to such an extent. . . .

The Nobel Committee could have defended the principles of peace and democracy if it had awarded the prize to those who have worked in this sphere for many years and now need support.” In Germany, where opinion polls show that a majority of residents are still committed to European unity even as they tire of supporting their struggling neighbors, news of the prize was greeted with wide appreciation. Even the Web site of the Bild tabloid — normally a haven for militantly anti-euro headlines — proudly proclaimed the news, with the E.U.’s blue-and-yellow logo displayed in a lineup of past winners including Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother Teresa. “I often say that the euro is more than a currency,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a statement Friday. “As we work to strengthen the euro in these weeks and months, we should not forget this.” French President Francois Hollande hailed the award as an “immense honor” that “commits us all to continue toward a Europe more united, more just, stronger and more capable of peacemaking.” But Marine Le Pen, who leads France’s extreme nationalist National Front party, said that honoring the European Union “demonstrates great cynicism toward the millions of Europeans who are suffering mortally” because of the debt crisis.

Commonality and support The European Union was born from the ashes of World War II, with leaders seeking to bind their countries so tightly together that they would never again face each other in war. In 1950, France and Germany launched discussions on how to commonly run their coal and steel industries, and other countries soon joined in the effort. By 1957, the agreements had evolved into a common market, with few trade barriers among the Western European countries that joined. In 1993, the market became the European Union; six years later, the common euro currency was introduced. But many leaders still hold firm to the idea that common solidarity in the name of peace is the overarching goal. In 2004, many former Eastern Bloc countries gained entrance. Now, once-warring Balkan countries are slowly making their way into the union. Croatia plans to join next year. For the new countries, membership confers status, economic support and a path toward euro membership. Smaller nations still feel that the benefits of the common currency outweigh the drawbacks. Those that were once under the thumb of the Soviet Union appreciate having a backer against modern-day Russia, of which many are still suspicious.

“Deeply touched honored that the E.U. has won the Nobel Peace Prize,” the head of the European Parliament, German Socialist Martin Schulz, posted on Twitter moments after the award was announced. “Reconciliation is what the E.U. is about. It can serve as inspiration.” Birnbaum reported from Berlin. Edward Cody in Paris and Kathy Lally in Moscow contributed to this report. world EUROPA - European Union receives Nobel Peace Prize 2012 Europa > ECAS Login Create an ECAS account European Union receives Nobel Peace Prize 2012 In 2012 the EU received the Nobel Peace Prize for advancing the causes of peace, reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe. The EU decided to dedicate the Nobel Peace Prize money to children who are denied the chance of growing up in peace and to double the Nobel award (€930,000), to €2 million. As a result, more than 28,000 children have so far benefited from the four emergency-education projects selected last year. As a lasting political legacy of the Nobel Peace Prize, and as a targeted tool for education in conflict zones, the EU will continue this initiative in the years to come.

For 2013, the EU has again doubled the resources and attributed a further €4 million to cover both the existing and new projects. Education for Peace: New Opportunities for Children in Conflict The 2012 Nobel Peace Prize When awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to the EU, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said its decision was based on the stabilising role the EU has played in transforming most of Europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace. The EU’s most important achievement, according to the committee, has been "the successful struggle for peace and reconciliation and for democracy and human rights". The work of the EU represents "fraternity between nations" and amounts to a form of the "peace congresses" cited by Alfred Nobel as criteria for the Peace Prize in his 1895 will. The European Union is the 21st international organisation to win the award since 1901. Statement by president of the European Parliament Award ceremony The prize was conferred in Oslo on 10 December. Like all winners, the EU received the prize from the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. The EU was represented by the President of the European Council, the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Parliament.

The traditional Nobel lecture , on behalf of the EU, was given by Presidents Van Rompuy and Barroso. Four young Europeans, winners of the online contest organised by the EU (see below) joined the EU Delegation in Oslo to collect the prize. Contest To mark the award, the EU institutions and the European Youth Forum organised a contest asking young people to explain what peace in Europe means to them. Children aged 8 to 12 were asked to send their answer in the form of a drawing; 13 to 24 year olds in the form of a short text. Around 5400 entries were sent. Winners were chosen by a jury, chaired by comic book author Jean Van Hamme, and by the a public vote on Facebook. Winners Larkin Zahra, 23, Malta. The four winners were part of the official delegation of the European Union in Oslo to receive the 2012 Peace Prize. They attended the official ceremony on 10 December and the Nobel Peace Prize concert on 11 December. "The 2012 Nobel Peace prize is not only a recognition of the EU's past achievements: it also looks to the future", said the leaders of the EU institutions.

"That's why we want Europe's youth, who are inheriting a continent of peace and who will be responsible for Europe’s future, with us in Oslo". Survey on the EU winning the Nobel Peace prize Infographic showing the results of the survey on the EU winning the Nobel Peace prize © EU Main findings: The Nobel Prize Award Ceremony and the Nobel Banquet Lists of Nobel Prizes and Laureates Lists of Nobel Prizes and Laureates The Nobel Prize Award Ceremonies and Banquets Since 1901, the Nobel Prizes have been presented to the Laureates at ceremonies on 10 December, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death. As stipulated in the will of the Swedish-born inventor and international industrialist Alfred Nobel , which was opened after his death in 1896, the Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine and Literature are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, while the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway.

Since 1969 an additional prize has been awarded at the ceremony in Stockholm, The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, which was established in 1968 on the occasion of the Riksbank's 300th anniversary. The Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm has, almost without exception, taken place at the Stockholm Concert Hall (Stockholms Konserthus) since 1926. In Oslo, the ceremony was for many years held at the Nobel Institute. From 1947 till 1990, the setting was the auditorium of the University of Oslo. In 1990 the event moved to the Oslo City Hall. Inside the Stockholm Concert Hall. Copyright © The Nobel Foundation Photo: Boo Jonsson At the Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm, presentation speeches extoll the Laureates and their discovery or work, after which His Majesty the King of Sweden hands each Laureate a diploma and a medal . The Ceremony is followed by a banquet at the Stockholm City Hall (Stockholms Stadshus) for about 1,300 people, including 250 students.

With a few exceptions, the Nobel Banquet has taken place at the City Hall since 1930. The Nobel Festivities in Stockholm are arranged by the Nobel Foundation and are primarily an academic celebration focusing on science and literature. In addition to the Nobel Laureates and their families, Their Majesties the King and Queen and other members of the Royal Family of Sweden are guests of honour at both the Prize Award Ceremony and the Banquet. Representatives of the Swedish Government and Parliament also participate. International guests enjoy priority, especially those who represent the sciences and cultural life. Swedish guests are people who participate in Nobel-related functions in one capacity or another, aid the sciences through donations or otherwise support the Foundation and the Prize Awarding Inside the Stockholm City Hall. Copyright © The Nobel Foundation Photo: Boo Jonsson In Oslo the Nobel Peace Prize is presented by the Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in the presence of Their Majesties the King and Queen of Norway, the Government, Storting representatives and an invited audience. Several hundred seats are reserved for persons with special reasons for wishing to attend the ceremony. Later the same day, the Norwegian Nobel Committee hosts a banquet in honour of the Laureate, with specially invited guests. Inside Oslo City Hall.

Since the Nobel Prize is regarded by far as the most prestigious prize in the world, the Award Ceremonies as well as the Banquets in Stockholm and Oslo on 10 December have been transformed from local Swedish and Norwegian arrangements into major international events that receive worldwide coverage by the print media, radio and television. Share this: To cite this page MLA style: "The Nobel Prize Award Ceremony and the Nobel Banquet". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 20 Jan 2017. < Nobel Peace Prize: And the winner could be .... - CNN.com 1 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners The 2016 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos for his efforts to end Colombia's long-running civil war.

Hide Caption 2 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners The 2015 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet for its "decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in the country in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011." From left to right: the Secretary General of the Tunisian General Labour Union Houcine Abbassi, the President of the National Order of Tunisian Lawyers Fadhel Mahfoudh, the Tunisian Human Rights League Abdessatar Ben Moussa and the President of the Tunisian employers union Wided Bouchamaoui.

Hide Caption 3 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners The 2015 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet for its "decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in the country in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011." Members of the quartet are seen here in this 2013 photo, left to right, The President of the Tunisian employers union (UTICA), Wided Bouchamaoui, Secretary General of the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) Houcine Abbassi (L) , President of the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH), Abdessattar ben Moussa and the president of the National Bar Association, Mohamed Fadhel Mahfoudh. Hide Caption 4 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Malala Yousafzai split the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize with India's Kailash Satyarthi for their struggles against the suppression of children and for young people's rights.

Yousafzai came to global attention after she was shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012 for her efforts to promote education for girls in Pakistan. Hide Caption 5 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Ahmet Uzumcu, director-general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons , speaks after his chemical watchdog group was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013. The Hague, Netherlands-based organization received the prize for helping to eliminate the Syrian army's stockpiles of poison gas as well as for its longtime efforts to eliminate chemical weapons. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners The European Union won the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize. Hide Caption 7 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee, from left, Tawakkol Karman of Yemen and Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners U.S. President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Martti Ahtisaari won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008. Hide Caption 11 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Former Vice President Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Muhammed Yunus and Grameen Bank won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. Hide Caption 14 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Wangari Muta Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement, Kenya, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Shirin Ebadi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Former President Jimmy Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

Hide Caption 17 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Former United Nations Secretary General Koffi Annan, center, with French Forces commander Gen. Alain Pellegrini, right, review UNIFIL soldiers upon Annan's arrival to the U.N. peacekeeping base in the southern Lebanese town of Naqura, on August 29, 2006. Annan and the United Nations won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000. Hide Caption 19 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners A flag bearing the logo of Medecins sans Frontieres (also known as Doctors Without Borders) stands in the middle of a makeshift clinic at Kenya's Dadaab refuge on October 16, 2011. Medicins sans Frontieres won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.

Hide Caption 20 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners David Trimble, left, and John Hume hold up their diplomas and medals after receiving their Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, on December 10, 1998. Trimble and Hume won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998. Hide Caption 21 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Jody Williams sits in front of donated shoes symbolizing landmine victims during Ban Landmines Week on March 8, 2001, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Williams and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997. Hide Caption 22 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, left, and Jose Ramos-Horta shake hands at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo on December 9,1996, prior to the awarding ceremony. Belo and Ramos-Horta won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996.

Hide Caption 23 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Joseph Rotblat and the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995. Hide Caption 24 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Palestinian leader Yaser Arafat, from left, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin hold up their awards after winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994. Hide Caption 25 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners South African National Congress President Nelson Mandela, left, and South African President F.W. de Klerk shake hands in Oslo, Norway, on December 10, 1993, after being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Hide Caption 26 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Rigoberta Menchu campaigns in the Alameda neighborhood of Guatemala City, Guatemala, on November 4, 2011. Menchu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.

Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. Hide Caption 29 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners U.N. soldiers unload their gear from a C-130 cargo plane as the U.N. observer team policing the Iran-Iraq ceasefire arrives in Baghdad. The United Nations Peacekeeping Forces won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1988. Hide Caption 30 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Costa Rican President-elect Oscar Arias waves to supporters after receiving the ceremonial sash at the National Stadium in San Jose on May 8, 2006. Arias won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987. Hide Caption 31 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel appears at a press conference at the United Nations on October 27, 2004 in New York. Wiesel won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.

Hide Caption 32 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Members of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War clasp hands on October 11, 1985, at the group's Boston headquarters after the organization was awarded the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. The doctors are, from left, Eric Chivian, co-founder; John Pastore, secretary; Sidney Alexander, president of the U.S. affiliate group; and James Muller, co founder. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Archbishop Desmond Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Former Polish President Lech Walesa won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983. Hide Caption 35 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Alva Myrdal, right, and Alfonso Garcia Robles won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982, having played a central role in the United Nations' disarmament negotiations. Hide Caption 36 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Refugees are registered in Somalia in November 1981.

The Nobel Peace Prize that year was awarded to the United Nations' refugee agency, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Hide Caption 37 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Adolfo Perez Esquivel, who has devoted his life to the struggle for human rights, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1980. Hide Caption 38 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Mother Teresa, founder of the Missionaries of Charity order, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. Hide Caption 39 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners President Jimmy Carter, center, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin join hands after signing the Camp David Accords. Sadat and Begin won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Amnesty International won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977.

Hide Caption 41 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan, co-founders of the Community for Peace People, share a joke while leading a peace rally of Catholic and Protestant woman in the Protestant Shankill Road, in Belfast, on August 28, 1976. Williams and Corrigan won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975. Hide Caption 43 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato, left, and Irish official Sean MacBride shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1974. Hide Caption 44 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Hanoi's delegate Le Duc Tho cheers to the crowd while leaving the International Conference Center in Paris on January 23, 1973, after meeting with presidential adviser Henry Kissinger, center. Le Duc Tho and Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973.

Hide Caption 45 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners German Chancellor Willy Brandt poses after being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize n Oslo on December 10, 1971. Hide Caption 46 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Dr. Norman Borlaug holds up stalks of his specifically crossbred wheat, designed to be more disease-resistant. Borlaug won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. Hide Caption 47 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners The International Labour Organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1969. David Morse was the director general of the organization from 1948-70. Hide Caption 48 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Rene Cassin, the French jurist and a deputy chairman of the NATO committee for human rights, holds up a telegram after being notified of winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968. Hide Caption 49 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Children drink milk handed out by UNICEF workers in Moundou, Chad, on October 26, 1965.

UNICEF won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1965. Hide Caption 50 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. displays his Nobel Peace Prize medal in December 1964 in Oslo, Norway. Then 35, King was the youngest man to have received the prize. The U.S. civil rights leader was slain in 1968. Hide Caption 51 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners A group of Red Cross rescue workers hold a capsule used to supply food and beverages to three trapped miners at an iron ore mine near Lengede, Germany, on October 28, 1963. The League of Red Cross Societies won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1963. Hide Caption 52 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners American chemist Linus Pauling won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1962 for his campaigning for a nuclear test ban treaty. Pauling also won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1954. Hide Caption 53 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Dag Hammarskjold, Swedish politician and the second U.N.

secretary general, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1961. Hide Caption 54 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners King Olav V of Norway, left, shakes hands with Albert Lutuli, president-general of the African National Congress, after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1960 in Oslo. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners British politician Philip Noel-Baker was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1959. Hide Caption 56 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Georges Pire, right, receives the Nobel Peace Prize in 1958 for his efforts to help European refugees leave their camps and return to a life of freedom and dignity. Hide Caption 57 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Canadian politician Lester Bowles Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for his active role in attempting to prevent war. Hide Caption 58 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners North Korean refugees cross the Naktong River in South Korea on August 6, 1950, just a short time before the beginning of the conflict between North and South Korea. The U.N.

forces in Korea had set a time limit of 15 hours for crossing the river. In 1954, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the UNHCR, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Gen. George Catlett Marshall of the U.S. Army won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Dr. Albert Schweitzer -- a physician, philosopher and theologian -- won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Leon Jouhaux, a French union activist, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1951. Hide Caption 62 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Ralph Bunche won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950 for his "unremitting campaign to develop man's ability to live in peace, harmony and mutual understanding with his fellows," according to the Nobel Committee. Hide Caption 63 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Lord John Boyd Orr, a British nutritionist and health campaigner, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1949.

Hide Caption 64 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners A family begins to assimilate in a new community on August 4, 1941, after being rehabilitated by the American Quakers and the Unitarian service committee, after fleeing with thousands of others from war-torn Lorraine, France, to begin a new life. The Friends Service Council (The Quakers) and the American Friends Service Committee won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947. Hide Caption 65 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners John Raleigh Mott, left, and Emily Greene Balch won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946. Mott won for his contributions to the creation of a peace-promoting religious brotherhood across national boundaries. Balch won for unrelenting efforts to fight for peace. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1945. Hide Caption 67 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners American Red Cross workers check packages for troops fighting in Leyte, Philippines, on November 20,1944.

The International Committee of the Red Cross won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1944. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners The Nansen International Office for Refugees won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1938. Hide Caption 69 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Viscount Cecil of Chelwood won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1937 for promoting peace at a time of war. Hide Caption 70 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Carlos Saavedra Lamas won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1936 for his personal contribution to the cause of peace in Latin America. Hide Caption 71 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Carl Von Ossietzky, seen here in a concentration camp uniform, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1935. Hide Caption 72 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Arthur Henderson, Britain's foreign secretary, arrives at 10 Downing Street in London on August 17, 1931. Henderson won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1934.

Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Sir Norman Angell won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1933 for promoting international peace. Hide Caption 74 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Swedish Bishop Nathan Söderblom won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1930. Söderblom was the first clergyman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Hide Caption 75 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Frank Billings Kellogg, an American diplomat, speaks after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in a ceremony at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway. The award commemorates his origination of the Kellogg Peace Pact, which was signed by European nations and the United States in Paris. Kellogg won the Peace Prize in 1929. Hide Caption 76 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners French educator Ferdinand Buisson was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1927 with Ludwig Quidde, right, who founded the League for Human Rights.

Hide Caption 77 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners German politician and industrialist Gustav Stresemann, left, and French politician Aristide Briand received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1926. Hide Caption 78 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners British statesman and Secretary of State for the Colonies Joseph Chamberlain, left, and American statesman and financier Charles Gates Dawes won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Norwegian Arctic explorer and statesman Fridtjof Nansen won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922. Hide Caption 80 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Christian Lous Lange, left, and Karl Hjalmar Branting won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1921 for promoting global peace. Hide Caption 81 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners French socialist statesman Leon Victor Auguste Bourgeois, founder of the League of Nations, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1920. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners President Woodrow Wilson won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919.

Hide Caption 83 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Belgian diplomat Henri La Fontaine, who served as president of the Permanent International Peace Bureau, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1913. Hide Caption 84 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners American jurist and statesman Elihu Root, who served as U.S. Secretary of War from 1899-1904, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1912 for his promotion of international arbitration. Hide Caption 85 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Tobias Michael Carel Asser, left, and Alfred Hermann Fried won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1911 for their efforts in promoting peace among nations. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners The International Peace Bureau won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1910. Hide Caption 87 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners French diplomat Paul Henri Benjamin Balluet d'Estournelles de Constant, Baron de Constant de Rebecque, left, and Belgian Prime Minister Auguste Marie Francois Beernaert won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1909.

Hide Caption 88 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Danish writer and politician Fredrik Bajer, left, and Swedish author and politician Klas Pontus Arnoldson won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1908. Hide Caption 89 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners The Nobel Peace Prize in 1907 was awarded jointly to Italian journalist Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, left, and French industrialist Louis Renault. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners The Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 was awarded to U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. Hide Caption 91 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Austrian author Baroness Bertha Sophie Felicita von Suttner became the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905. Hide Caption 92 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Members of the Red Cross Motor Corps, all wearing masks to protect against the further spread of the influenza epidemic, carry a patient on a stretcher into an ambulance in St. Louis in October 1918. The International Committee of the Red Cross won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1917.

Hide Caption 93 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners The Institute of International Law won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1904 for promoting peace around the world. Hide Caption 94 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners English politician, pacifist and trade unionist Sir William Randal Cremer won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1903. Hide Caption 95 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Swiss activist Elie Ducommun and Swiss lawyer Charles Albert Gobat won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1902. Hide Caption

Question: The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded annually in which European city?
Answer: Oslo