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Riikka Purra, Finland's Minister of Finance: "I wouldn't write something like that again"
Photo: ALESSANDRO RAMPAZZO / AFP
The finance minister of Finland's new governing coalition, Riikka Purra, apologized on Wednesday for racist remarks she made in a blog post 15 years ago. The 2008 posts by Purra, the leader of the populist, anti-immigrant party Perussuomalaiset, "True Finns," had surfaced on Twitter and other social media platforms. Purra has been in office since the end of June and is also deputy prime minister of the new centre-right government.
Their post on a right-wing and anti-immigrant website contained racist and xenophobic slurs, as well as threats of violence against migrants. Speaking at a joint press conference with Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, Purra said, "There is nothing to defend about the comments I wrote 15 years ago as a private individual in a forum of like-minded people." She continued, "I wouldn't write anything like that again, and I don't. My apologies are utterly sincere."
Orpo is the leader of the conservative National Coalition Party, which won the most votes in Finland's parliamentary elections on 2nd April. The "True Finns" party became the second strongest force. The prime minister expressed his confidence in Purra, saying he had no doubts about their commitment to the coalition government's shared 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 of this is enshrined in the government's program."
The cabinet, which was sworn in last month and described by political analysts as Finland's most conservative since World War II, has already experienced personnel turmoil in its short tenure. Economy Minister Vilhelm Junnila, a party colleague of Purra's, was forced to resign after only ten days in office because of links to the Finnish neo-Nazi scene, racist innuendos and a plea for "climate abortion" in Africa.
jso/AP