The Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize ought to be of no real importance judging by the motley crew of previous winners the award of the prize to the European Union is not absurd.

One of the reasons why membership of the Euro is still the majority opinion in Spain, Greece and Portugal is because the EU is strongly associated with the move away from dictatorship. Many Eastern European countries have made reforms in order to enter the EU. One of the reasons the Serbs eventually handed Karadic and Mladic over to face trial is to make themselves eligible to join the EU.

The European Union has not been beneficial to the UK- with our long tradition of pluralistic democracy we don't associate the EU with freedom- but for the countries that have thrown off dictatorship the desire to join has been a positive influence.

If I lived somwhere like Hungary with an increasingly authoritarian government, I would be glad of the moderating effect of EU membership upon what the government can do.These benefits are threatened by the destabilisation brought on by the drive for "ever closer union" and for the increased acquisition of powers by Brussels.