Nobel award recognizes Europe as 'continent of peace'

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Suzanne Plunkett / Reuters

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, left, European Council President Herman van Rompuy and European Parliament President Martin Schulz, seen here on Sunday, will receive the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the European Union in Oslo on Monday.

By NBC News wire servicesUpdated at 9:20 a.m. ET: OSLO, Norway -- The European Union received the Nobel Peace Prize on Monday, as the Norwegian committee looked beyond Europe's current malaise to recognize its decades of stability and democracy after the horrors of two world wars.

Fittingly for an institution with no single leader, the EU sent three of its presidents to the Oslo ceremony for the 2012 prize, which critics including former Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu say is undeserved.

About 20 European government leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, also attended the ceremony.

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