Comment: Here is an interesting story published on guardian.co.uk about far-right Finnish politician Timo Soini, the leader of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party. It is interesting how the Guardian does not have a problem with the term “far right” and puts the PS in the same group as other ones in the Nordic region like the Danish People’s Party, Progress party of Norway, and Sweden Democrats.
If anyone watched the presidential debate on Thursday on television, I was surprised by what Social Democrat hopeful, Paavo Lipponen, said about the PS not being a far-right party.
The guardian.co.uk writes: Destruction seems to be part of Soini’s plan. He says that Finland could easily retract the backing its parliament gave the expanded European financial stability facility, the eurozone bailout fund, in September, a move that would rip apart the rescue package stitched together last month. “We can even now say that it is full stop for our bailing out,” he insists. “We can say it, even if we are members of the eurozone and the EFSF’s [European Financial Stability Facility’s] power has been enlarged. Each and every individual decision, by Finnish law, has to be made in this house, and if this house… says this is the end of the story, it’s the stand of the Finnish parliament and we can do it.”
And continues: “You can’t find a politician in this country who says that I have extreme views about foreigners or homosexuals or anyone else,” he insists. “It’s so painful to the old and established party to confess that there’s a real challenger on economics, or bailing out the EU, that the easiest solution is to demonise us.”
Why would Soini need someone to say these things if he has a lot of members in his party who are saying them for him?
What will be Soini’s stance if one day the PS gets into government and puts some of their ideas into practice?
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Timo Soini is excited about Italian bond yields. “I just heard that the interest on Italian 10-year loans is now over 7.3%,” he whispers as a cast-iron lift hoists us from the ground floor of the monumental Finnish parliament to his office above. “This is a horrendous situation.” But it’s clear that, from his political standpoint, it’s actually quite good news.
Lipponen’s only trying to trawl votes. Soini has a snowballs chance in hell, but Niinistö is the strongest candidate. Lipponen can not afford to further piss off the PS supporters as SDP is leaking to the PS. Even a blind bat sees the equation there.