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October 12, 2012

Nobel Peace Prize Goes to European Union Despite Mass Austerity Protests 
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The 2012 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the European Union at a
time when the 27-nation body is embroiled in a debt crisis that has
sparked mass protests in Spain and Greece. The Nobel Committee cited the
EU's historical leadership, including efforts to rebuild the continent
after World War II and promote stability after the fall of the Berlin
Wall in 1989. But critics note that more recently the EU has backed
crippling austerity cuts in struggling countries such as Greece, where
new figures Thursday showed unemployment had risen above 25 percent in
July. This year's Nobel Prize for Literature went to the Chinese
novelist Mo Yan. Critics accused the author of being too close to
China's ruling Communist government, a claim he denied Friday, saying
his writing has always been on the side of the people.

 

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