The finance minister in Finland’s new four-party governing coalition apologized Wednesday for racist comments she made in a blog post 15 years ago.
The 2008 writings of Riikka Purra, the leader of the populist, anti-immigration Finns Party, resurfaced on Twitter and other social media platforms after she assumed her Cabinet post in late June. Purra also serves as deputy prime minister in the new center-right government.
Her post on a site frequented by supporters of right-wing and anti-immigration policies included racial and anti-immigrant slurs, and threats of violence against migrants.
