Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Colina Machado waves to supporters outside the White House after meeting with US President Donald Trump on January 15, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Norwegian parliamentarians have reacted with shock and dismay to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Colina Machado’s decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize medal to US President Donald Trump.
“This is completely unprecedented,” Janne Haaland Matrali, a professor of international politics at the University of Oslo and former secretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told public broadcaster NRK on Friday.
She called Machado’s actions “disrespectful” and “pathetic” and said they undermined the prize, which is awarded annually by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
“Incredibly embarrassing and damaging to one of the most respected and important awards in the world,” Raymond Johansen, a Norwegian lawmaker from the centre-left Labor Party and former mayor of Oslo, said in a Facebook post, according to Google Translate.
Machado, who met with Trump for the first time at the White House on Thursday, said the gift to the president was “an expression of our deep gratitude to President Trump and the United States for their invaluable support to the Venezuelan people.” This follows the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a US military operation on January 3rd.
The US president thanked Machado on social media, calling it a “great gesture of mutual respect.” The White House later posted a photo of President Trump and President Machado holding up a large gold frame displaying the medal.
A bust of Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and philanthropist Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) pictured outside the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway, on January 8, 2026.
Jonathan Knackstrand | AFP | Getty Images
“A medal can change hands, but the title of a Nobel Peace Prize winner cannot,” the Nobel Peace Center, a museum dedicated to the Nobel Peace Prize in the Norwegian capital, said in a post on X.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee and the Norwegian Nobel Institute previously said: “The facts are clear and well established. Once a Nobel Prize has been announced, it cannot be revoked, shared or transferred to another person. The decision is final and valid in perpetuity.”
“Anyone who has received an award has received an award,” Norwegian Center Party leader Trygve Slagsvold Werdum told NRK. “The fact that Mr. Trump received the medal says something about the type of person he is. He is the classic scapegoat who adorns himself with other people’s awards and jobs,” he added.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by CNBC on Friday.
“Politics over peace”
President Trump has frequently spoken of his desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize. The White House responded to the Nobel Committee’s decision to award the medal to Machado last October, saying it “proved that it cares more about politics than peace.”
But some Norwegian lawmakers seem happy to ignore Machado’s gesture, saying it should not be seen as an indication of who the award rightfully belongs to.
Daguinge Ulstein, leader of Norway’s centre-right Christian Democratic Party, told NRK there was “no doubt” that the Nobel Peace Prize still belonged to Machado.
Ine Eriksen Søreide, Norway’s former defense minister and member of the centre-right Conservative Party, agreed with Ulstein.
“Even if Mr. Trump receives the Medal of Honor, that does not mean he has received the Peace Prize,” Soleide said.
