Finland’s government has agreed on a policy to fight racism after months of accusations against the right-wing coalition government.
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, whose conservative National Coalition Party (NCP) narrowly won the April election, said on Thursday that his government agreed to tackle racism and discrimination.
“Every minister in the government will renounce racism and commit to active work against racism in Finland and internationally,” he said during a joint news conference with the three other party leaders.
After winning the election in June, the government was racked by scandals after reports of ministers from the Finns Party, part of the four-party coalition, posting articles that were deemed racist and bigoted.
Economy Minister Vilhelm Junnila was forced to resign over repeated references to Nazi German leader Adolf Hitler and the Nazis he had made on social media and in campaign adverts, which he said was a joke.
Finance Minister and Finns party leader Riikka Purra apologised in July for comments she acknowledged she had posted anonymously online about 15 years ago, but she argued they were taken out of context.
