The European Union has been awarded the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to promote peace and democracy, even as the continent is in the midst of its biggest debt crisis since the 1950s.

The Norwegian Prize Committee said the EU received the award for six decades of contributions "to the advancement of peace and reconciliation and human rights in Europe."

"The stabilizing part played by the European Union has helped to transform a once-torn Europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace," Nobel committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said.

Some are criticizing the committee for its move to award the EU.

"I suppose could have been even sillier: they could have awarded EU the Nobel for economics," Benedict Brogan, editor of The Daily Telegraph, tweeted.

"Nobel Prize for the EU at a time Brussels and all of Europe is collapsing in misery," Dutch Lawmaker Geert Wilders said. "What next?"

The award will be presented on Dec. 10.