The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Karel Schwarzenberg, said that the award was the right decision: “Since the very beginning, the European Union has been designed in the first place as a peace project. Everything else grew out of this peace idea”.

What is particularly valuable about the Union is that it enhances stability, as we have seen after World War II as well as after the fall of authoritarian regimes in Southern Europe and of communist regimes in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. The Union has been identified with the promotion of values and democratic standards namely as regards human rights, the rule of law and market economy. Thanks to this it has inspired reform and transition efforts in some other countries, namely in Eastern and Southeastern Europe and in the Southern Caucasus region.

The European Union has grown to become a global promoter of democratic and civilization values, and the ongoing debate on the future course of European integration does nothing to alter this. In this context, we see the Nobel Peace Prize as a certain moral encouragement to the common European project that has lost none of its attractiveness in Europe and beyond.