Watching the ongoing negotiations between the National Coalition Party, Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, Swedish People’s Party, and Christian Democrats to form Finland’s most right-wing and anti-immigration government is concerning. For one, PS head Riikka Purra’s usual vitriolic anti-immigration rhetoric reminds me of a Brexit minime bully.
Purra warned on Thursday that without “migration policy tightened significantly,” they will abandon talks.
Purra’s warnings sound like a Brexit minimi bully whom others, like National Coalition Party’s prime minister-designate Petteri Orpo, back down.
If you want to see the harm that Brexit has caused to the United Kingdom, the PS is a “mini” Brexit that will cause damage to the Finnish economy because of its hardline stance on labor migration and asylum seekers.
Xenophobic stances are costly to any society because they encourage unemployment, marginalization and crime.
The fact that Orpo, the Swedish People’s Party, and Christian Democrats are negotiating to form a government with the PS is an extraordinary example of cowardice.
Source: Helsingin Sanomat
Helsingin Sanomat published a story revealing how a new government could tighten migration policy. There’s not much apart from worsening the already-low financial help to asylum seekers, tightening again family reunification, more effective deportations, and limiting the number of times an asylum seeker can appeal, among others.
Sounds familiar?
Placing new restrictions or tightening “significantly” migration policy will create more red tape because they aim to discourage people, especially those outside the EU, from coming here. Parties like the PS and too many politicians believe that migrants want to move to Finland. That is simply a myth, not true.
As negotiations to form a government continue, they reveal a toxin that will hamper our economic growth and wellbeing through austerity measures, hitting the most vulnerable sectors of our society, and xenophobia that will stop us from attaining a better future.
