It continues to storm around Finland’s newly appointed government.
The country’s finance minister, the True Finns party leader, Riikka Purra, has been forced to apologize for writing racist blog comments.
“I apologize for my stupid comments on social media 15 years ago and for the hurt and upset feelings they understandably caused. I’m not a perfect person, I’ve made mistakes,” writes Purra on Twitter on Tuesday.
The reason for the apology is old texts, from 2008, on the blog of the former chairman of the True Finns and now the speaker of the Riksdag, Jussi Halla-aho, which bubbled to the surface. There, the signature “riikka” – which is linked to the finance minister – has written comments that glorify racism and violence, Finnish media write.
The President commented
Before Purra apologized, outraged voices were heard who, among other things, demanded that the coalition-party Prime Minister Petteri Orpo put down his foot against racism in the government – and even let Purra go.
Even President Sauli Niinistö demanded on Tuesday that the government distance itself from racism.
– I am of the opinion that it would be wise if the government would clearly mark zero tolerance against racism. That would be a good signal to the world. Racism and the attitude to immigration are two completely different things, Niinistö said, according to Hufvudstadsbladet.
“Does not accept violence”
Purra herself said on Monday that it would not occur to her to resign or apologize for something she said decades ago, writes the Finnish news agency STT.
But she quickly had to eat that and already on Monday she wrote on Twitter that she does not accept any form of violence. In another tweet on Tuesday, she has clarified that she also does not approve of racism.
“It is important that Chairman Purra distanced herself from the violence and stated that she does not accept her old writings,” Orpo told STT on Tuesday, before Purra explicitly apologized.
The uproar over the comments is just one in a series of scandals that have rocked the government that took office on June 20. The nationalist True Finns have stood for all of them.
FACTS The Orpo government
Finland’s right-wing government, led by the coalitionist Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, took office on 20 June.
The government consists of the bourgeois Samlingspartiet, the nationalist True Finns, and the small parties the Swedish People’s Party and the Christian Democrats.
The government’s overarching goals are, among other things, to create new jobs, tighten immigration and put the country’s finances in order.
Read more THE FACTS The scandals that shook the government
Ten days after Petteri Orpo’s government took office, True Finns’ Minister of Economy Vilhelm Junnila resigned following accusations of links to right-wing extremism. In addition, ambiguities emerged about his education and alleged business activities.
Soon after, a couple of Junnila’s party colleagues, including Interior Minister Mari Rantanen, were accused of believing in a far-right conspiracy based on the notion that a deliberate “population exchange” is taking place.
Shortly afterwards, the True Finns made a new – controversial – choice of minister of economic affairs, because Wille Rydman, former member of the coalition, was accused only a year ago of repeated cases of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior towards underage girls.
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