President: Czech absence in Oslo "not worth discussion"

Czech president Václav Klaus said on Monday that the Czech absence in Oslo at the presentation of the Nobel Peace Prize to the EU was “not worth discussion”, saying if the media hadn’t drawn attention “nobody in Oslo would have noticed”. The European Union, as a body, was awarded the peace prize this year, a move that the Czech Republic’s euro sceptic president called a tragic mistake. Three top EU representatives, President Herman van Rompuy, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Parliament President Martin Schulz in Oslo accepted the award on behalf of the EU. Representatives of a majority of member states also attended. Mr Klaus has maintained that the award makes sense when given to a person - not to an institution.