A stroke of genius by Nobel Committee

In recent years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has taken an adventurous course in awarding the Peace Prize. To award the canonical prize to those behind the Iron Curtain of old or a version of the Bamboo Curtain in the post-Deng Xiaoping China of today to make its point was par for the course. But the last time it awarded the prize to US President Barack Obama on the promise of what he would do, rather than what he had accomplished, was a bizarre choice contrary to all concepts of justice. Obviously, the committee was carried away by the promise of Obama after eight years of George W. Bush in the US presidency.
But to award this year’s prize to the European Union (EU) is a stroke of genius. The recognition of the stupendous achievements of the EU over six decades signifying the reconciliation of Germany and France after two bloody world wars tends to be forgotten today. At a time the EU is suffering its worst crisis in the steep economic downturn and the bailing out of Greece and other weak economies, the award is meant to be a morale booster that could not have been more welcome in these fraught times.
The recent short official visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Athens with noisy demonstrators mocking her on the streets by wearing Nazi uniforms and flaunting the Swastika is a sign of public anger over years of belt-tightening and the weakness of policing arrangements in the euro zone. The mandatory tightening of belts in other countries of the EU in the zone has also brought protesters on to the streets. What is more, the hardships southern Europeans are facing after many years of prosperity after the US Marshall Plan took effect and welfare measures spawned are leading to centrifugal tendencies, with the richer parts seeking to break away, as for instance the Catalonia region of Spain. And even Britain, always maintaining an arm’s length approach to the EU albeit being part of it, is facing a revolt of sorts from Scotland.
Many of these regions have had rich traditions of their own, but in more prosperous times they were happy to express their distinctiveness in other ways, instead of seeking the break-up of their countries. They are now counting their pennies when the going gets tough and people, particularly the young, are losing their jobs. European leaders have failed to convince their people that their future in the long run is more secure within the EU fold. Of course, for the present their agenda is not so much the disintegration of the EU but rather the fate of the euro zone. What is psychologically important, however, is for the people to feel that the pain of their present travails is well worth living with for their own future and that of their countries.
Therefore, the Nobel Peace Prize for the EU could not have come at a more critical time — for a people in great need of psychological succour. Indeed, the triumphs of the EU far outweigh its failures, more spectacularly in the Yugoslav wars. For younger Europeans, it is time to go back to their recent history books in understanding the unique importance of an institution built by such visionaries as France’s Jean Monnet, originally in the form of the Coal and Steel Community, and finally nurtured and consummated by Germany’s Helmut Kohl, who was a key factor in crowning the process of reconciliation between France and Germany and ultimately swung the almost impossible feat of the reunification of Germany. What Otto von Bismarck had originally achieved and was torn asunder by the country’s defeat in World War II was rejoined by Kohl’s superb diplomacy with the help of the Soviet Union’s Mikhail Gorbachev.
The reunification of Germany came about, despite the opposition of Britain’s Margaret Thatcher and the scepticism of France’s Francois Mitterrand, because Kohl was able to convince Europe, France above all, that it was better having it inside the ring of the EU rather than outside it. And in signing on to the euro and giving up its much-prized Deutschmark, he signified how deep his conviction for a united Europe was. Indeed, he was guilty of slurring over, if not deceiving his people, on the costs to West Germany of bringing back the eastern part known as the German Democratic Republic.
The EU has, of course, some knotty problems to solve. In hindsight, countries such as Greece were not honest about their financial health in their eagerness to join the euro zone, and the inherent weakness of the enterprise was that there was no effective supervising mechanism in enforcing norms, essentially because the members were not prepared for such a scheme. Equally obviously, Greece and other members spent beyond their means when the going was good and money was in plentiful supply. Things began to unravel with the failure of Lehman Brothers in the US and the contagion quickly spread to Europe and other parts of the world.
Thanks to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, European leaders have time to catch their breath and look back on their great collective achievements against the backdrop of their tragic past. Younger Europeans have until recently known nothing but prosperity; they have, of course, read about the wars, but reading history is one thing, experiencing it quite another. It is time today to dwell on the great success of the EU endeavour, despite its limitations. For instance, the chairman of the European Council is a low-key figure hardly recognised by the world and the head of foreign policy is another undistinguished person. The purpose of these appointments stemmed from the zealousness of the main European powers to conduct their own foreign policies.
It is time to say three cheers to the Nobel Committee for giving history a push to rejuvenate a unique institution that has become a beacon for a better Europe and the world.

The writer can be contacted at snihalsingh@gmail.com [2]