The newly appointed economy minister of Finland has tendered his resignation after serving for only 10 days.
Vilhelm Junnila, a member of the nationalist Finns Party, faced allegations of making multiple Nazi references during a far-right event four years ago.
Although he issued an apology and managed to survive a no-confidence vote, Mr. Junnila announced his decision to resign on Friday. He expressed his intention to prevent any damage to both the government and Finland’s reputation.
“I see that it is impossible for me to continue as a minister in a satisfactory way,” Mr Junnila added in a statement.
His resignation comes after it emerged he addressed a Nationalist Alliance event in the south-western city of Turku in 2019.
During an event aimed at commemorating the victims of a stabbing incident that occurred two years prior, Vilhelm Junnila made a remark linking his own election number from the same year, 88, to the local party chairman’s election number.
The number 88 holds significance among neo-Nazis as it symbolizes the greeting “Heil Hitler,” with “H” being the eighth letter of the alphabet. This association led to accusations that Mr. Junnila had made repeated Nazi references.
Further reports from Finnish public broadcaster Yle revealed that in March, Mr. Junnila extended congratulations to another candidate who also received the number 88 at a campaign event organized by the Finns Party.
As a result of these controversial remarks and associations, Mr. Junnila issued an apology and faced a no-confidence vote. Although he survived the vote, he decided to resign from his position as Finland’s economy minister to prevent any potential harm to both the government and the country’s reputation.
“First of all, congratulations on an excellent election number. I know it is a winning card. This 88 refers, of course, to the two ‘H’s, but let’s not dwell on that,” the 41-year-old is said to have joked.
Writing on social media last week, Mr Junnila said he had “done something wrong” and he was “sorry for my actions”.
“I hope everyone is clear that I condemn the Holocaust, anti-Semitism and all anti-Semitic acts strongly and definitely,” he added in a separate Facebook post.
Mr Junnila survived a no-confidence vote in parliament earlier this week after being accused by opposition parties of repeatedly making statements linked to the Nazis.
His resignation comes just 10 days after his party was officially sworn in as a junior partner in Finland’s new right-wing coalition government.
Petteri Orpo, Finland’s prime minister and leader of the National Coalition Party which came first in April’s election, said Mr Junnila’s resignation was the “right and only possible decision”.
The Finns Party member has also been criticised for his suggestion in 2019 that Finland should promote what he called “climate abortions” in African nations, national daily Helsingin Sanomat reports.