Key Points
- Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado’s decision to present her Nobel Peace Prize medal to U.S. President Donald Trump has triggered disbelief and criticism in Norway.
- “It’s completely unheard of,” said Janne Haaland Matlary, a former state secretary in Norway’s foreign affairs ministry.
- “This is incredibly embarrassing,” said Raymond Johansen, a Norwegian lawmaker from the center-left Labour Party.
Norwegian lawmakers reacted with shock and dismay after Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado decided to present her Nobel Peace Prize medal to U.S. President Donald Trump.
“It’s completely unheard of,” Janne Haaland Matlary, a professor of international politics at the University of Oslo and former state secretary in Norway’s foreign affairs ministry, told public broadcaster NRK on Friday.
Matlary described the gesture as “disrespectful” and “pathetic,” arguing that it undermines the value of the Nobel Peace Prize, which is awarded annually by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Raymond Johansen, a Norwegian lawmaker for the center-left Labour Party and former governing mayor of Oslo, echoed that criticism in a Facebook post, calling the move “incredibly embarrassing and damaging to one of the world’s most respected and important prizes,” according to a Google translation.
Machado met Trump at the White House for the first time on Thursday. She said the decision to give him the medal was a “profound expression of gratitude for the invaluable support of President Trump and the United States to the Venezuelan people.” Her remarks followed a U.S. military operation that seized Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, on Jan. 3.
Trump thanked Machado on social media, calling the gesture a “wonderful gesture of mutual respect.” The White House later shared a photo of Trump and Machado, with the U.S. president holding a large, gold-colored frame displaying the medal.
The Nobel Peace Center, a museum in Norway’s capital dedicated to the Nobel Peace Prize, weighed in on X, writing: “A medal can change owners, but the title of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate cannot.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee and the Norwegian Nobel Institute have previously emphasized that Nobel Prizes cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred once awarded. “The facts are clear and well established,” the institutions said in a statement. “The decision is final and stands for all time.”
“Whoever has received the prize has received the prize,” Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, leader of Norway’s Centre Party, told NRK. He added that Trump’s willingness to accept the medal “says something about him as a type: a classic scapegoat who will adorn himself with other people’s awards and work.”
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Friday.
‘Politics over peace’
Trump has repeatedly said he wants to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. After the Nobel Committee announced in October last year that Machado would receive the medal, the White House criticized the decision, saying it showed the committee had “proved they place politics over peace.”
Some Norwegian lawmakers, however, appeared less concerned by Machado’s gesture, stressing that it does not change who the prize rightfully belongs to.
Dag-Inge Ulstein, leader of Norway’s center-right Christian Democratic Party, told NRK there is “no doubt” the Nobel Peace Prize still belongs to Machado.
Ine Eriksen Søreide, Norway’s former defense minister and a member of the center-right Conservative Party, agreed.
“Even though Trump has now received the medal, it does not mean that he has received the Peace Prize,” Søreide said.
