The leader of Finnish government coalition partner the Finns Party on Tuesday apologised for old online racist comments after being condemned by cabinet colleagues.
Finance Minister Riikka Purra, who became the leader of the far-right Finns Party in 2021, had been accused of having written inflammatory comments in 2008 -- including various anti-immigrant, anti-Islam and racial slurs, as well as threats of violence.
"I apologise for the stupid comments I made 15 years ago and the understandable harm and upset they caused. I am not a perfect person," Purra said on Twitter.
The controversy comes just two weeks after another Finns Party minister resigned over pro-Nazi remarks.
"Such writings are unacceptable from anyone, regardless of party affiliation," Anders Adlercreutz, minister for European affairs from the Swedish People's Party, wrote on Twitter.
Purra did not immediately confirm nor deny the allegations but in a blog post on Monday she said that "it would not occur to me to start denouncing or apologising for what I did and said years and decades ago".
She later added on Twitter that "I used to feel very frustrated and hopeless about certain aspects of immigration in Finland."
"Then you might say or write angrily and stupidly," she said.
- 'Zero tolerance' -
The controversial comments were posted under the username "riikka" on a blog that belonged to her predecessor Jussi Halla-aho, whose controversial writings got him convicted of inciting ethnic hatred.
On Monday, social media users also noted resemblances between the personal lives of blog author "riikka" and Riikka Purra, including coinciding visits to Barcelona, similar educational backgrounds and proclaiming to be vegetarian.
President Sauli Niinisto on Tuesday said that "it would be wise for the Finnish government to take a clear stance of zero tolerance on racism."
In June, another Finns Party minister, Vilhelm Junnila, was forced to resign due to various pro-Nazi remarks.
Junnila had joked during this year's parliamentary elections about the election candidate number 88 being a reference to "Heil Hitler", because 'H' is the eighth letter in the alphabet.