After just ten days in office as the Economic Affairs Minister in Finland’s new four-party center-right governing coalition, Vilhelm Junnila resigned on Friday, 30 June 2023.
While announcing his resignation, Junnila said, “For the continuation of the government and the reputation of Finland, I see that it is impossible for me to continue as a Minister in a satisfactory way.”
Junnila is a member of the populist, anti-immigration Finns Party, that took office on June 20, 2023 after an April election.
According to the Finns Party, Junnila stepped down over earlier statements he had made linked to Nazis.
Vilhelm stepped down in part for a speech in connection with a far-right memorial in the western city of Turku in 2019, Finland’s news agency disclosed.
He also reportedly has made a reference to Adolf Hitler. He joked about his candidate number in the 2019 parliamentary elections, which was randomly assigned as 88, jokingly saying that it represented two H’s, the news agency added. The eighth letter in the alphabet is H, and 88 is a numerical code for “Heil Hitler.”
“First of all, congratulations for the excellent candidate number. I know it’s a winning card. Obviously, this ’88’ refers to two H letters which we won’t say more about,” Junnila had said.
Junnila has apologized and distanced himself for his remarks and jokes. “I hope it is clear to everyone that I strongly and absolutely condemn the Holocaust, antisemitism and all antisemitic acts,” he tweeted.
Meanwhile, Junnila survived a confidence vote in the Finnish parliament, the Eduskunta, on Wednesday, June 28, 2023, just two days prior to his resignation.
The confidence vote was put forward by the opposition. Following the vote, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo averred that he had given Junnila a warning before the vote that he “can’t act” like that in a ministerial role, the news media reported.
On June 16, Orpo, who leads Finland’s center-right National Coalition Party, announced an agreement with three other parties for a governing coalition, saying that the new NATO member country needs budget cuts and curbs on immigration.
The four parties; Orpo’s NCP, the Finns Party, which came in second in April elections vowing to curb immigration, the Christian Democrats and the Swedish People’s Party of Finland, hold 108 seats out of 200 in Eduskunta.
Junilla Becomes Government Member With Shortest Career In Finnish Politics
Finnish state media disclosed that Vilhelm Junilla now holds the title of government member with the shortest career in Finnish politics, beating Karl Lennart Oesch who was Minister for 12 days in 1932.
Meanwhile, Li Andersson, leader of the opposition Left Alliance party, told a news agency that Junnila had no other choice but to resign.
“This has already caused a huge amount of damage to Finland. This was also the first test of Prime Minister Petteri Orpos leadership, and he failed it.
“He should have drawn the conclusions much earlier and made a clear statement that the government won’t accept this. It is very embarrassing that they instead voted in favour of confidence for Junnila just two days ago.”
Li Andersson
Anna Moring, the Green party’s Secretary, said, “These racist attitudes are visible throughout the government.”
“The world has had a positive picture of Finland under the previous government as a welcoming country with a positive record on human rights, but this government is now cutting the wings off that image.”
Anna Moring
Finnish Prime Minister, Petteri Orpos would not comment before addressing a European Council meeting in Brussels on Friday, a spokesperson divulged.
