Finland’s business community is now concerned over how Finland is viewed abroad, fuelled by the refusal of Finance Minister Riikka Purra (Finns Party) to apologise for past racist comments.
Start-ups are doing everything in their power to make Finland the best place in the world for high-skilled professionals, the former MEP and CEO of the Finnish Startup Community Riikka Pakarinen told lta-Sanomat in an interview on Tuesday.
“But now we have a finance minister, who by giving her silent approval to racism is thwarting all the work we have done,” she said, noting that “even an apology is not enough”.
Reactions also came from Mikael Pentikäinen, the Federation of Finnish Enterprises CEO, who joined the conversation on Wednesday.
“It is good to remember that companies function and operate as companies and political turbulence has no effect as such. However, the kind of discussion we have witnessed may influence the image of Finland,” Pentikäinen said to YLE.
He also emphasised that the main thing is that people would feel safe in Finland regardless of the colour of their skin, race or religious or political views.
The bad press Finland is getting may, in the worst-case scenario, negatively impact investments in the country, Jaakko Hirvola, CEO of Technology Industries of Finland, told YLE in an interview.
Hirvola and Pentikäinen hope the controversies would now be left behind so the government can start implementing its programme which businesses have already welcomed.
(Pekka Vänttinen | EURACTIV.com)
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