Newly Appointed Finland Minister (No.88) Forced to Resign After Controversial Neo-Nazi Comments

A newly appointed minister in Finland has had to resign less than a week into the job after his controversial ‘neo-Nazi’ comments.

On Friday, June 30, Vilhelm Junnila, resigned from his post as Finland’s minister for economic affairs, after his previous comments were likened to neo-Nazi rhetoric, writes Euro News.

Junnila was appointed as the new minister on Tuesday, June 27 and after just three days in the job he handed in his resignation on Friday.

Junnila’s Divisive Comments

Vilhelm Junnila, a member of the far-right Finns Party, sparked heated controversy over his comments in parliament where he said more abortions should be given to African women as a solution for the climate crisis.

The comments were made in 2019 when he was a new MP. He named the idea ‘climate abortions.’ Speaking in Parliament at the time he said: ‘It would be justified for Finland to shoulder its responsibility by promoting climate abortions.

‘Climate abortion would be a small step for a person, but a giant leap for humanity,’ he concluded.

This week Junnila’s words came back to haunt him, Christian Democrat MP Päivi Räsänen, whom herself holds strong views on abortion and LGBTQ issues, took a swipe at also Junnila: ‘The concept of climate abortion is eco-fascist anyway without the racist connection. And eco-fascism is also an extremist movement.’

An announcement from Junnila said he was quitting to save any embarrassment to the country.

Previous Controversies Come To Light

Further revelation also came to light on Friday, when it transpired that despite his claims, had never even studied political science classes at university.

Junnila’s honesty was also called into question when no evidence could be found on his boast that he started, then sold, a tech company in Poland.

In 2019 the Finnish Election Commission randomly awarded him the number 88 as his candidate number, something which he later joked about. Neo-Nazis, use the number 88 as a code for Heil Hitler, as H is the eighth letter of the alphabet.

Finnish President, Sauli Niinistö reportedly said during a Friday morning interview that the situation was ‘very embarrassing, to say the least.’