Economy Minister Vilhelm Junnila of the right-wing populist Die Finnen party announced his resignation on Friday after a scandal involving his far-right contacts and jokes about Nazi symbols.
In view of the continuity of government and Finland’s reputation, he considered it impossible to continue as minister in a satisfactory manner, he said. However, he continues to enjoy the confidence of his party and his parliamentary group. According to radio station Yle, Junnila is the shortest minister in Finnish history.
Only a week and a half in office
The four-party coalition around Orpo’s conservative National Coalition Party and The Finns party took office just a week and a half ago. After that, Junnila’s connections with right-wing extremists came to light. He narrowly survived a confidence vote in parliament on Wednesday, but pressure on him and the government remained high. President Sauli Niinistö, who normally refrains from making such comments, described the situation as embarrassing for the government.
Criticism of Junnila related, among other things, to statements he had made during the spring parliamentary elections. There he congratulated another candidate from his party on the 88 list, the same one he had in the 2019 elections. Among neo-Nazis, 88 is the figure for “Heil Hitler”. Junnila is said to have made joking remarks about the number beforehand. He recently apologized for this on Facebook. Over the years, he joked in a way that, in retrospect, struck him as silly and childish, he wrote, according to Yle. The entry is no longer online.
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