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On Twitter, Confusion and Chuckles Over Nobel Peace Prize

October 12, 2012, 2:24 pm
By ERIC PFANNER
The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded on Friday to the 27-member European Union.

Last Updated, 3:48 p.m. PARIS - The surprise decision by the Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday to award its 2012 peace prize to the 27-national European Union amid its huge economic struggles that threaten its future prompted a lively discussion online that ranged from confusion to humor.

As my colleagues Alan Cowell and Walter Gibbs report, the committee “lauded the European Union's role over six decades in building peace and reconciliation among enemies who fought Europe's bloodiest wars,” even as it wrestles with economic strife.

Posts o n Twitter showed that Europeans may be struggling with the constraints of austerity, but they can still loosen their belts to enjoy a belly laugh - or vent their spleen. Some voices even praised the decision. But not many in Norway.

Wags of all political stripes took their cue from Henry A. Kissinger, who once wondered whose telephone number to dial if he wanted to “call Europe.” In the E.U., a political project in which a number of officials and institutions share power with 27 national leaders, who would go to Oslo to officially pick up the prize, asked Stanley Pignal, a financial writer in London?

In euroskeptic Britain, which is in the European Union but not in the euro zone, the news was met with derision by some.

Benedict Brogan, deputy editor of The Daily Telegraph in London, posted on Twitter:

This joke, and variations on the theme, quickly made the rounds.

Some posts on Twitter applied a similar formula to the E.U.'s difficulty in surmounting disagreements between rich and cash-strapped member states, as did this post from Nick Malkoutzis, deputy editor of the English edition of Kathimerini Greek, which is published in partnership with The International Herald Tribune.

Britain's Channel 4 News noted in its report, “in recent years the E.U. has been ridden with social unrest and diplomatic tension, following the debt crisis of the eurozone, particularly in Greece. Greek protesters recently donned swastikas when German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the country this week, blaming Merkel for the worsening economic situation in the country, while there has also been a rise in extremism in the country and anger against immigrants.”

A translation of Twitter post by Marco Bardazzi, digital editor for La Stampa, a daily newspaper in Turin, Italy, reads: “Europe, Nobel for the (rest in) Peace.”

Others responded to the news with perplexity or even anger. “Peace prize?” wrote Simone Stefanini. “Wasn't it bombing Libya until a few months ago.”

As the BBC journalist Silvia Costeloe reported, the o fficial @WikiLeaks Twitter feed incorrectly called Norway “an E.U. member” in an update informing the group's 1.6 million followers that the prize is “an instrument of Norwegian foreign relations.”

That update was seconded more than a hundred times by readers of the feed before it was deleted.

Sara Goldberger, a public relations consultant based in Brussels, noted that it was easy for the Nobel Committee in Norway, which is neither in the E.U. nor the euro zone, to stay above the fray:

Ms. Goldberger also offered how much each person might get if the prize award was divvied up among the E.U.'s citizens.

Some posts on Twitter included jokes about possible financial market reaction to the news.

“S&P cuts Nobel prize committee rating by three notches to ‘junk,' negative outlook,” wrote Fabrizio Goria, a reporter for Linkiesta, an Italian financial newspaper.

Not everyone was offering sarcastic musings. E.U. politicians, and those from mainstream political parties in member states, mostly played it straight:

Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament and lawmaker for the Social Democratic Party of Germany, was among the first to post on Twitter about the news.

The European Commission also posted:

Calestous Juma, a professor at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, said:

The Nobel committee set up its own social media platform, where contributors could send in “postcards” for all to see. Many of these praised the decision, though in some cases the sentiments had tinges of sarcasm.

“Thank you, as a member of E.U. I'm honored by this prize,” one of the contributors wrote. “This is my first Nobel Prize. Looking for more to come. Best.”

Elisabetta Povoledo contributed reporting from Rome and Jennifer Preston and Robert Mackey from New York.