The first four weeks of the right-leaning government have included one ministerial resignation and crisis meetings after the other, but the revelations of old racist writings coming from Finns Party members continue to put the government’s life on the line.
After Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (National Coalition Party) announced that his government dissociates from racism, the debate flared up again after the writings of Finance Minister Rikka Purra (the Finns Party) from 2019 appeared publicly. Purra considered it unnecessary to apologise for referring to Somali women as “unrecognisable black sacks”.
But a few members of the government are demanding concrete action be taken.
Even before the latest revelations, the Chair of the Christian Democrats’ parliamentary group Peter Östman demanded concrete actions against antisemitism and racism.
“This government must be true to its words,” said Östman.
The Swedish People’s Party held a crisis meeting late on Friday evening.
In the ensuing statement, the party did not indicate its trust in the government and its continuation. Instead, the SPP said being “extremely worried about the government’s capacity for action” and decided only to grant Orpo time to “assess the situation and have a serious discussion with the Chairs of the parties in the government”.
Concerned comments have also been heard inside the Prime Minister’s National Coalition Party, which is somewhat divided between liberal and conservative-minded supporters.
The opposition has taken full advantage of the government being on the ropes.
In a joint letter on Friday, opposition parties asked Parliament Speaker Jussi Halla-aho (the Finns Party) to suspend the parliament’s summer recess and debate the government’s policy and future in light of new information that may harm Finland’s international reputation.
In his response on Saturday, Halla-aho turned down the request.
According to him, the situation is not urgent enough, and the parliament’s independence must be protected against “external pressure”, by which he referred to social media postings and “the leftist and green media”.
The next few weeks may prove to be decisive for the government. If it survives until September, it will face a full-force attack from the opposition.
(Pekka Vänttinen | EURACTIV.com)
Read more with EURACTIV
UK PM clamps down on ‘low-value’ degrees
Source: euractiv.com
