The award of the Nobel Peace Prize 2012 to the European Union (EU) came as a surprise. Not only was the Eurozone economic crisis undermining both policy effectiveness and public support for the EU, but it was also seriously challenging the EU’s image in global politics. Although the Nobel Committee acknowledged these grave difficulties and the current considerable unrest in Europe, it wished to focus attention on what it regarded as the EU’s most important achievement: helping to ‘transform most of Europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace’. However, some six decades after the creation of the forerunner to the current EU we ask if this noble narrative of war and peace, which is at the heart of European integration, at an end. We argue that this principled account is likely to remain just one of several narratives of European integration, but with its reputation somewhat tarnished. Fresh perspectives on the EU’s current - and past - narratives are now required, from both the EU and the scholarly community.