Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado waves to supporters outside the White House after meeting with US President Donald Trump on January 15, 2026 in Washington.
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Norwegian lawmakers were shocked and appalled by the Venezuelan opposition leader Decision by Maria Corina Machado Introducing the US President Donald Trump With the Nobel Peace Prize medal.
“It’s completely unheard of,” said Jann Holland Matlari, a professor of international politics at the University of Oslo and a former state secretary at the foreign ministry. This was reported by public television channel NRK on friday.
He called Machado’s gesture “disrespectful” and “pathetic” and said it would undermine the value of Norway’s annual prize.
Raymond Johansen, Norwegian left-wing Labor Party MP and former mayor of Oslo, said in a post on Facebook According to Google Translate, it’s “a huge shame and a disservice to one of the world’s most respected and important awards.”
Machado, who met with Trump for the first time at the White House on Thursday, said that the gift to the US president “deep gratitude For the invaluable support of President Trump and the United States of America to the people of Venezuela.” This comes after a US military operation toppled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on January 3.
President of the USA thanked Machado on social mediadescribed it as “a wonderful gesture of mutual respect”. The White House later posted a photo Trump and Machado, the president of the United States, hold up a large, golden frame with a medal.
A bust of Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, entrepreneur and philanthropist Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) is unveiled outside the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo on January 8, 2026.
Jonathan Nackstrand | Afp | Getty Images
The Nobel Peace Center, a museum dedicated to the Nobel Peace Prize in the Norwegian capital, X said in a post: “Medals can change holders, but the title of Nobel Peace Prize laureate cannot.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee and the Norwegian Nobel Institute previously stated: “The facts are clear and well established. Once the Nobel Prize is announced, it cannot be withdrawn, shared or given to others. Decision is final and binding at all times.”
Norway’s Center Party leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum told NRK television: “Whoever got the prize got it.” “Trump’s acceptance of the medal says something about the type of person he is: a classic goat who adorns himself with other people’s awards and work,” he added.
The White House was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC on Friday.
“Politics is about peace”
Trump has often spoken about his desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize. The decision of the White House Nobel Committee to award the prize to Machado in October of last year, they had “proved that they put politics above peace.”
Some Norwegian lawmakers welcomed Machado’s gesture, but said it should not be seen as an indication of who should win the award.
Dag-Inge Ulstein, leader of Norway’s center-right Christian Democratic Party, told NRK that there is “no doubt” that the Nobel Peace Prize still belongs to Machado.
Norway’s former defense minister, Ine Eriksen, a member of the center-right Conservative Party, agrees with Soreide Ulstein.
“Just because Trump is getting a medal now, that doesn’t mean he’s getting the Peace Prize,” Soreide said.