Norway shocked by Machado’s decision to award Nobel Prize to Trump

Norwegian lawmakers have reacted with shock and dismay to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado’s decision to present US President Donald Trump with her Nobel Peace Prize medal.

“This is completely unheard of,” Janne Haaland Matlary, professor of international politics at the University of Oslo and former state secretary at the Foreign Ministry, told public broadcaster NRK on Friday.

She called Machado’s gesture “disrespectful” and “pathetic,” saying it undermined the value of the prize, awarded annually by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Raymond Johansen, a Norwegian lawmaker for the center-left Labor Party and former mayor of Oslo, said in a Facebook post that it was “incredibly embarrassing and damaging to one of the most respected and important awards in the world,” according to a Google translation.

Machado, who met Trump at the White House for the first time on Thursday, said the gift to the US president was a “deep expression of gratitude for President Trump and the United States’ invaluable support for the Venezuelan people.” This comes after a US military operation captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on January 3.

The US president thanked Machado on social media, calling it a “wonderful gesture of mutual respect.” The White House later released a photo of Trump and Machado, with the US president holding up a large gold frame displaying the medal.

The Nobel Peace Center, a museum in the Norwegian capital dedicated to the Nobel Peace Prize, said in an article on X: “A medal can change owners, but the title of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate cannot.” »

The Norwegian Nobel Committee and the Norwegian Nobel Institute previously said: “The facts are clear and well established. Once a Nobel Prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared or transferred to others. The decision is final and valid forever. »

“Whoever got the prize got the prize,” Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, leader of the Norwegian Center Party, told NRK. “The fact that Trump accepted the medal says a lot about him as a guy: a classic scapegoat who adorns himself with the awards and work of others,” he added.

The White House was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC on Friday.

Trump has often expressed his desire to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. The White House responded to the Nobel Committee’s decision to award Machado the medal in October last year by saying she had “proven that she puts politics before peace.”

Some Norwegian lawmakers, however, seemed happy to reject Machado’s gesture, saying it should not be taken as an indication of who was rightfully awarded the award.

Dag-Inge Ulstein, leader of Norway’s center-right Christian Democratic Party, told NRK there was “no doubt” that the Nobel Peace Prize still belongs to Machado.

Ine Eriksen Søreide, a former Norwegian defense minister and member of the center-right Conservative Party, agreed with Ulstein.

“Even though Trump has now received the medal, that does not mean he received the Peace Prize,” Søreide said.