Zeenews Bureau
Oslo: From his nomination to collection of Nobel Peace Prize, US President Barack Obama has been trailed by many controversies. This time, the Nobel Peace Prize winner created buzz among Norwegians by cancelling a series of events usually attended by the peace prize laureates.
As per the reports, Obama’s decision to cut short his Norway trip has annoyed Norwegians as they view his response as shabby.
According to the Guardian, the White House had cancelled a number of events usually attained by prizewinners, including a dinner with the Norwegian Nobel committee, a press conference, a television interview, appearances at a children's event promoting peace and a music concert, as well as a visit to an exhibition in his honour at the Nobel Peace Centre.
Obama has also rejected a lunch invitation from the King of Norway, infuriating 44% of Norwegians.
As per a poll published by the daily tabloid VG, only 34% of Norwegians found Obama’s cancellation of scheduled lunch with King Harald acceptable.
Albeit Obama will not have lunch with King Harald, yet the US leader will pay a visit to the royal palace.
"Of all the things he is cancelling, I think the worst is cancelling the lunch with the King," said Siv Jensen, the leader of the largest party in opposition, the populist Progress party. "This is a central part of our government system. He should respect the monarchy," she told VG.
Meanwhile, the Norwegian Nobel committee dismissed the criticism. "We always knew that there were too many events in the programme. Obama has to govern the US and we were told early on that he could not commit to all of them," said Geir Lundestad, secretary of the committee.
First Published: Friday, December 11, 2009, 09:58