The European Union has won the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize.

The EU received the prize for "its historic role in uniting Europe."

"For 60 years the EU has been contributing to the promotion of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights protection in Europe," Nobel Committee President and Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjoern Jagland said.

According to him, the EU "helped to turn Europe from the war continent into a continent of peace."

"The EU restored Europe after the Second World War and brought stability to the former communist states after the fall of the Berlin Wall on 1989," he said.