Norway MP nominates Trump for 2021 Nobel Peace Prize

An MP for a Norwegian populist party said Wednesday he had nominated Donald Trump for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, citing his role in brokering an agreement normalising relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

"The reason is that he crafted a unique and historic agreement between Israel and the UAE. An agreement that, we hope, can be extended to other Arab countries so that we can have lasting peace in the Middle East," Christian Tybring-Gjedde told AFP.

A member of the right-wing, anti-immigration Progress Party, Tybring-Gjedde is the deputy chair of the Norwegian parliament's committee on foreign and defence affairs.

Together with another lawmaker, he had already nominated Trump for the Nobel in 2018 for his rapprochement with North Korea, now in limbo.

Being nominated for a Nobel is however no guarantee that someone will win the prestigious prize.

The Norwegian Nobel Institute welcomes all proposed names, as long as they are sent in by January 31 for the year in question and are submitted by those eligible to nominate.

Tybring-Gjedde falls into that category as a member of parliament.

Each year, the Nobel Institute receives hundreds of nominations. The Institute keeps the names secret for 50 years, although those who nominate are allowed to publicly disclose their pick.

Trump "deserves" the Nobel, Tybring-Gjedde said, "especially if you compare with other past laureates."

"Whether it's the 1978 Camp David accords or the 1993 Oslo accords, the Nobel Peace Prize has been given to the protagonists and this agreement is at least as revolutionary for the Middle East."

Asked whether he thought the US President had any real chance of being awarded the prize in a Norway generally lukewarm to his cause, Tybring-Gjedde stressed that the candidate's personality was "not important".

"For Nobel laureates, whether they are in... literature or chemistry, nobody cares about their personality," he insisted.

"It's not personality that decides whether someone wins the prize, but what the person has really accomplished to make peace in the world," he said.

The Nobel Institute, which usually refuses to comment on nominations, was not available for comment.

In the past, several of the five members of the Nobel committee that selects the laureate have made negative remarks about Trump.