Donald Trump’s desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize next month appears to have hit a snag: the firm independence of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. The committee insisted on Friday that its decisions cannot be swayed by external pressure.
Since returning to the White House in January, the US president has made it clear he wants the prestigious award, which his rival Barack Obama won in 2009. The 79-year-old billionaire has repeatedly stated he “deserves it,” claiming to have ended six wars, even though conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine are still ongoing.
“Of course, we do notice that there is a lot of media attention towards particular candidates,” said Kristian Berg Harpviken, the committee’s secretary, in an interview in Oslo. “But that really has no impact on the discussions that are going on in the committee.” He added, “The committee considers each individual nominee on his or her own merits.”
This year’s laureate will be announced on October 10. Trump has supported his claim by pointing out that several foreign leaders have nominated him. However, they would have had to be extremely quick, or even prescient, as nominations for this year’s prize had to be submitted by January 31, just 11 days after Trump took office.
Phone Call
“To be nominated is not necessarily a great achievement. The great achievement is to become a laureate,” said Berg Harpviken. He explained that “the list of individuals who can nominate is quite long,” including members of parliament, government ministers, former laureates, and some university professors from around the world. As a result, thousands or even tens of thousands of people are eligible to submit a name.
This year, the committee will select the winner from a longlist of 338 individuals and organizations, a list that is kept secret for 50 years. The most deserving candidates are then placed on a shortlist, with each name evaluated by an expert.
“When the committee discusses, it’s that knowledge base that frames the discussion. It’s not whatever media report has received the most attention in the last 24 hours,” said Berg Harpviken, who guides the committee but does not vote. “We are very aware that every year there are a number of campaigns, and we do our utmost to structure the process and the meetings in such a way that we are not unduly influenced by any campaign,” he said.
President Trump even brought up the Peace Prize during a phone call with Norway’s Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg, the former NATO secretary general, in late July. While the finance ministry confirmed the call took place, it did not confirm whether the two had discussed the Nobel.
Unlikely Laureate?
Although the five members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee are nominated by Norway’s parliament, the committee maintains that its decisions are made independently of party politics. A clear example of this is when the committee ignored discreet warnings from the Norwegian government and awarded the 2010 prize to Liu Xiaobo, an opponent of the Chinese government. This decision led to a deep diplomatic freeze between Beijing and Oslo.
“The Nobel Committee acts entirely independently and cannot allow itself to take those considerations into account when it discusses individual candidates,” Berg Harpviken said. He noted that Norway is a strong supporter of the multilateralism that Nobel Prize creator Alfred Nobel defended during his lifetime.
