President Obama was given the prize because of his good intentions, and now the EU has received it because the difficulties of the ongoing crisis have united the entire continent,” Cronberg noted.
She said that the award has taken on the characteristic of a reward.
”It is ironic that this is happening in a situation where the EU is moving forward at different speeds and when the distance between the ordinary citizen and the political elite is growing,” she added.
Some time ago more than half of Europeans believed in the European Union – compared to just one third today, Cronberg pointed out.
The Euro parliamentarian said that perhaps the Nobel Committee hoped that the award would attract attention to the 70-year peace achieved by the European community.
“The situation in southern Europe in which more than half of the young people are unemployed is explosive. I hope that the EU will use the prize for youth employment (programmes),” Cronberg added.