Finland’s prime minister apologises to Asian nations over racism scandal

By Essi Lehto

HELSINKI, Dec 17 (Reuters) – Finland’s prime minister apologised to Asian nations on Wednesday as he sought to contain a growing controversy over derogatory images posted by far-right members of the Nordic country’s parliament.

Dubbed the “slanted eyes” scandal by Finnish media, the incident is the latest in a series of cases in which members of the Finns Party, a junior partner in the governing coalition, have been accused of posting or making racist remarks.

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo of the pro-business National Coalition Party, who leads a four-party coalition that includes the Finns, issued a statement offering his sincere apologies.

“These posts do not reflect Finland’s values of equality and inclusion,” Orpo said in statements released by Finnish embassies in China, Japan and South Korea.

“Our message in Finland and to all our friends abroad is that the government takes racism seriously and is committed to combatting the issue,” he said.

The controversy arose earlier this month when the Miss Finland title holder was pictured pulling back her eyes in her friend’s social media post captioned “eating with a Chinese person”.

Sarah Dzafce, who is not of Asian origin, later apologised and said she did not intend to offend anyone, but was nevertheless stripped of her crown.

Two members of Finland’s parliament and one European Parliament member, all from the Finns Party, responded by posting similar images of themselves, pulling back their eyes.

The national flag carrier Finnair, which draws a significant portion of its business from long-haul flights, said the widely reported images had triggered a backlash in Asian markets.

The Finns Party plans to discuss the matter at a weekly meeting on Thursday, a spokesperson told Reuters.

One of the MPs, Juho Eerola, told Reuters he had apologised for his post and declined to give further comment.

The Miss Finland organisation in a statement to Reuters said it was apolitical but had acted in accordance with its values and principles.

Dzafce did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Already shortly after taking office in 2023, Orpo’s government faced a no-confidence vote over racist online posts and statements made by several cabinet members from the Finns Party.

(Reporting by Essi LehtoEditing by Terje Solsvik, Anne Kauranen and Tomasz Janowski)