Finland's new finance minister apologizes for racist comments in 2008 blog post

The new Government of Finland led by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, right, and the new Minister of Finance Riikka Purra hold a press conference in Helsinki, Finland Tuesday, June 20, 2023. (Jussi Nukari/Lehtikuva via AP)

HELSINKI -

The finance minister in Finland's new four-party governing coalition apologized Wednesday for racist comments she made in a blog post 15 years ago.

The 2008 writings of Riikka Purra, the leader of the populist, anti-immigration Finns Party, resurfaced on Twitter and other social media platforms after she assumed her Cabinet post in late June. Purra also serves as deputy prime minister in the new center-right government.

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Her post on a site frequented by supporters of right-wing and anti-immigration policies included racial and anti-immigrant slurs, and threats of violence against migrants.

She said during a joint news conference with Prime Minister Petteri Orpo that "there is nothing to defend about the comments I wrote 15 years ago as a private person on a forum of like-minded people."

"I would no longer write like that, and I don't do it either," she said. "My apology is completely genuine."

Orpo is the leader of the conservative National Coalition Party, which won the most votes in Finland's April 2 general election. The Finns Party was the runner-up. The prime minister expressed confidence in Purra and said he had no doubts about her commitment to the coalition government's common vision for the country.

"The government has zero tolerance when it comes to all forms of racism and extremism," Orpo said. "We do not accept any form of discrimination, and all this has been laid down in the government program."

The Cabinet sworn in last month, which political analysts have described as the Finland's most conservative, since World War II, has faced other turbulence during its short time in office.

Finns Party member Vilhelm Junnila resigned as economic affairs minister 10 days into the job after he received criticism for a speech he gave in connection with a far-right memorial in the western city of Turku in 2019.

Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, a former National Coalition Party member, observed Tuesday that "the government would do well to clearly adopt zero tolerance for racism."

"If the government can do that, we will also send a good signal outwards to the rest of the world. We must remember that racism and possible problems with immigration are two completely separate things," Niinistö said.

Along with Orpo's NCP and the Finns Party, the governing coalition includes the Christian Democrats and the Swedish People's Party of Finland. Together, the four parties hold 108 of the 200 in the Nordic nation's parliament, or Eduskunta.