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

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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.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.

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

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.

 

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