Swedish People's Party chair and Education Minister Anna-Maja Henriksson told Finnish news agency STT on Friday that she was quite certain her party would not have joined the government formation talks with the Finns Party this past spring had they known about the Finns Party’s racist writings.
Since taking office in June, the government has faced numerous racism controversies.
"It's good that we’re now talking about racism, and that we recognise it exists in Finland. We must do everything in our power to eradicate it," she said.
Last week Finns Party MP Wille Rydman told Verkkouutiset that he denounces racism as it is "classically understood," telling Sanna Ukkola on her tv show that "some people believe anything is racist, the term has been inflated."
"I still haven't yet understood why there hasn't been an overall denouncement of racism," Henriksson told STT.
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) has in several instances stated that his administration takes a zero-tolerance approach to racism and disavows all forms of extremist thinking.
"Their actions, writings and statements must also demonstrate that they have zero tolerance," Henriksson said when asked if she believed Finns Party had sufficiently distanced itself from racism.
Yle News's podcast All Points North reviews the series of racism and far-right scandals that have rocked the newly-formed coalition government this summer. Listen to the episode via this embedded player, on Yle Areena, Apple or via Spotify.
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