Sweden’s former right-wing Moderate Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt expresses bewilderment by Finland’s immigration policy, writes business daily Kauppalehti. “It is remarkable that before theelections in Finland they spoke about the importance of labor immigration but are [now] struggling to close Finland’s doors [to such people].”
Bewilderment? I would call it disappointment and caving in to one’s fears and populism.
The answer is simple and it comes in a long and unfriendly name to pronounce for foreigners: P e r u s s u o m a l a i s e t (PS).*
The PS are in government with the Center Party and National Coalition Party. Immigration policy is under PS Labor and Justice Minister Jari Lindstöm.
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Our foreign minister is the head of the PS, Timo Soini, who has some issues with the EU and is the main apologist for the racist behavior of his party.
This racist behavior that he defends as a good cop discourages skilled migrants, foreign investment and jobs from growing in this country.
Why would Finland not be struggling to close its doors to new migrants considering that one of its members, a substitute councilman from Helsinki, is being investigated for hate speec? In May he suggested that African men should be forcibly sterilized after having three children.
On Thursday another PS politician, MP Laura Huhtasaari, the country’s biggest daily Helsingin Sanomat found her name as a member of a racist Facebook page that has pictures of black children eating watermelon inside a pail that reads, “A bucketful of shit.”
One last thing: Neither Prime Minister Juha Sipilä nor the head of the National Coalition Party Alexander Stubb have shown an iota of leadership against racism.
Do you now understand why so many of us in Finland are just as bewildered as you about this government?
* The Finnish name of the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English-language names adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.