Eurosceptics target Marin with vow to cut immigration
A EUROSCEPTIC Finnish party has pledged to slash immigration in an attempt to force Sanna Marin’s government out of office.
The Right-wing Finns Party is tied at 19.3 per cent in second place in the polls with Ms Marin’s Social Democrats, ahead of the election on Sunday April 2.
The socialist prime minister’s party is slightly behind the conservative National Coalition Party, which could form a coalition with the Finns Party and form a new government.
The Coalition Party enjoys a narrow lead of 20.8 per cent, according to polls this week, published before Riikka Purra, the Finns leader, promised to crack down on immigration.
“We want to heavily reduce immigration that is harmful for our country,” Ms Purra said, as she looked to pull away from her rivals.
In particular, the party wants to cut immigrants coming from non-EU countries and developing nations, she said.
Unlike their pro-EU rival, the Finns want to leave the EU in the long term. Ms Purra is not actively pursuing a Finnish Brexit because the war in
Ukraine has increased support for EU membership. Ms Purra said her party would continue welcoming Ukrainian refugees if it formed a government.
“Ukraine has to win this war … we must be committed to helping Ukraine, both with heavy weapons, humanitarian aid and other kinds of mechanisms to help Ukraine fight and win,” she said.
“The kind of immigration policy that
Denmark has pursued and that Sweden wants to implement now under its new Right-wing government is quite close to what the Finns Party wants to do in Finland,” she added.
Denmark has long had some of the EU’s toughest rules on migration, while Finland’s Nordic neighbour Sweden has set out much tighter restrictions since a new Right-wing government took power last October.