Shortly after taking office in June, the Finnish government was thrown into chaos due to the release of racist writings by ministers from the far-right Finns Party, a coalition partner, and Finland’s second largest political group.
The centrist Swedish People’s Party (SPP), one of the smaller allies, had the more robust reaction.
Party leaders in Finland’s right-wing coalition announced on Wednesday that they have agreed on a standard policy to combat intolerance, preventing the collapse of the four-party government.
Due to recent events, Economy Minister Vilhelm Junnila, part of the far-right party, had to resign after making numerous Nazi references. Additionally, the leader of the Finns Party, Finance Minister Riikka Purra, issued an apology for past anonymous online comments containing racial slurs about 15 years ago.
Following a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo of Finland’s conservative National Coalition Party (NCP) announced that the government will present its unified policy to address racism.
SPP leader Anna-Maja Henriksson said she and her party had endorsed the new policy.
“I have received the trust of the entire Swedish Parliamentary Group @sfprkp to approve the outcome of the negotiations regarding the government’s announcement on the promotion of equal treatment, gender equality, and non-discrimination tomorrow in the Cabinet,” posted Henriksson on August 30.
“The Swedish faction of parliament has approved the outcome of negotiations,” Henriksson confirmed in a late-night post on Twitter (now X).
