“Awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union raised many controversies at the end of the last year. (…) It was not to the European Parliament, the European Commission or any other institution that the prize was awarded, but to the European citizens themselves” said Winkler. MEP pointed out that war among European nations, culminating in the two World Wars, is one of the constants that have characterized the history of Europe until the middle of the last century.

Winkler also pointed out that the EU is not only an economic union, but also a union of values, and that neglecting the latter has more serious consequences than the economic crisis.

In his opinion, the controversy that aroused on the issue of the Nobel Peace Prize award could have been a good pretext for initiating a more meaningful debate concerning the moral crisis which has amplified in the EU. Winkler said that such a debate would have been of great importance especially for the younger generation, who would have been able to learn that the EU is a union of values and that, above being an economical project, the EU is a political project.

The press conference in which MEP expressed his thoughts at the beginning of the year represented a good opportunity to hand each journalist a marked EPP pin symbolising the Nobel Peace Prize, the gesture symbolizing recognition of the contribution of European citizens towards the creation of an area of peace, stability and prosperity.