She apologized for the hurt and contempt the posts had caused, calling them “stupid” and calling them foolish.
High-profile cabinet positions were won by Ms. Purra’s Finns Party in the new administration of conservative Prime Minister Petteri Orpo.
However, after just three weeks, it has already been dogged by charges.
It does not reflect well on a government that has only recently gotten used to being in power or on the prime minister, who is scheduled to welcome US President Joe Biden to Helsinki on Thursday.
President Sauli Niinisto indicated it would be sage for the new government to “take a clear stance of zero tolerance of racism” which was about to be announced while he was in attendance at the Nato summit in Lithuania.
On social media, Mr. Orpo made it plain that there was “zero tolerance for racism” and that all of the government’s ministers were dedicated to battling racism both domestically and internationally.
Ms. Purra posted on Twitter, “I’m not a flawless person, I’ve committed mistakes. She also joined Mr. Orpo and two other coalition party leaders in signing a government statement assuring Finns that the entire cabinet was dedicated to equality and non-discrimination.
Her anti-immigration, anti-European Finns Party narrowly came in second place behind Mr. Orpo’s National Coalition Party in the April elections, marking their best-ever performance. She has been appointed as Finland’s deputy prime minister in addition to serving as finance minister.However, a string of racist remarks posted on a party colleague’s blog in 2008 under the pen name “riikka” and discovered by Finnish media have caused controversy.
One letter dated September 25, 2008, expressed displeasure over the presence of young people of foreign origin on a train: “If they gave me a gun, there’d be bodies on a commuter train, you see.”
While attending a conference in Spain, she also hurled racial slurs about “Turkish monkeys” and black street vendors selling “fake Vuittons” before saying, “Greetings from Barcelona, there is no ‘alarming immigration problem’ to be seen here.”
She first refused to acknowledge that the remarks were hers, but she did note that they had been written before she entered politics. She was adamant that “in this position, stage of life, and age, I would not write anything like that,” even after acknowledging that she had said and written “stupid or absurd” things.
She acknowledged making the remarks by Tuesday afternoon, but she made it clear that she was just 15 years old, saying, “I do not accept any kind of violence, racism, or discrimination.”
After her predecessor Jussi Halla-aho resigned, she was elected leader of the Finns Party, increasing their support to 20.1% of the electorate.
He is now the speaker of the house. His departure from a parliamentary committee in 2012 was caused by his personal blogging in 2008, which contained offensive remarks regarding Islam and Somalis.
The most significant issue for Finland’s young government thus far, albeit not the only one, is Riikka Purra’s racist history.
Vilhelm Junnila, a member of her party, was made to quit as the economy minister at the end of June after making remarks about abortions in Africa and Adolf Hitler at a far-right rally in 2019.
Following media claims that she believed Finns were being replaced by other races, Interior Minister Mari Rantanen, who is in the same party as Ms. Purra, made it clear last week that she did not believe in conspiracy theories.
Four parties make up the coalition that Orpo is leading. They have pledged to reduce public debt and tighten immigration laws pertaining to citizenship and work permits.
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