Brussels blog round up for 6 October – 12 October: Merkel inGreece, the Catalonia debate rages on, and EU wins the NobelPeace Prize.

Reaction to the EU’s 2012 Nobel Peace Prize award has been mixed. Open Europe draws a comparison with the “once celebrated actor who just got a lif etime achievement award”, arguing that while European integration did play a signif icant role in ensuring peace af ter World War II, the EU’s recent record is less impressive. European Commissioner Cecilia Malmström is, perhaps unsurprisingly, more positive. She calls the award “most welcome, unexpected, and important”.