Crisis-torn EU to win 2012 Nobel Peace Prize

The crisis-torn European Union will win this year's Nobel Peace Prize, the usually well-informed Norwegian public broadcaster NRK reported an hour before Friday's widely anticipated announcement. "The EU is this year's winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, NRK has confirmed," the broadcaster said on its website. NRK had suggested late Thursday that the committee this year might finally hand the prize to the EU, 60 years after the birth of its predecessor, the European Coal and Steel Community, which helped bring peace and stability to a continent ripped apart by war. But Friday morning, just an hour before the 11:00 am (0900 GMT) announcement, the broadcaster said the winner had been confirmed. If that prize pans out, it will come at a time when the 27-member bloc finds itself in turmoil brought on by the deep eurozone crisis. In its predictions Thursday, NRK had suggested the EU would win for its role in ensuring peace and stability on the continent. "The European Union is in the middle of one of its worst crises, but perhaps it is precisely now that the peace and stabilisation project deserves a hand from the 'no' country Norway?" NRK asked. Norway, which hosts the Nobel Peace Prize, is not a member of the EU, and three quarters of its population are opposed to joining the block, according to recent polls.