Purra says mass immigration will end Finnish welfare state

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				Purra says mass immigration will end Finnish welfare state

The chair of the Finns Party and Minister of Finance, Riikka Purra, spoke at the Finns Party’s parliamentary group summer meeting in Oulu on 26 August 2025. Photo: Timo Heikkala / Str / Lehtikuva

Riikka Purra said mass immigration poses an existential threat to Finland’s welfare system and national identity.

Speaking at the Finns Party’s parliamentary summer meeting in Oulu, the finance minister said she personally pushed for an additional €1 billion in spending cuts ahead of the government’s autumn budget session.

“If I had not proposed the cuts, they would not be on the table now,” Purra said. “The welfare state is at its end. Mass immigration is the end of the Finnish welfare state, the end of Finnish society.”

Purra criticised previous governments for increasing debt and delaying structural reform. She said the present administration is committed to budget consolidation, targeting what she called “secondary expenses”, including immigration integration services, inefficient administration, development aid, business subsidies and organisational funding.

She referred to overlapping structures and influence by former political actors embedded in publicly funded organisations, which she claimed distort financing and lobbying activities.

“Organisations perform functions that are essential, to the point that public authorities should possibly assume some of them directly,” Purra said. “Still, many structures are inefficient.”

She said the real pressure on the state budget comes from simultaneous growth in healthcare costs, military spending, support for Ukraine and rising interest payments on national debt.

Cuts would be necessary even without immigration-related spending, but combining the two has created what she called a “double catastrophe”.

“This is a crash. This is bankruptcy,” she said. “The structures of our society were designed for a different world, one with more Finnish workers.”

She added that more welfare benefits, healthcare services and educational support now go to people of foreign background, to the detriment of native Finns.

In her speech, Purra described immigration as a burden on municipalities. She pointed to the city of Vantaa, which she said now faces cuts after decades of high immigration. She linked this to the financial strain on local services.

“Immigration from developing countries has clear costs for the taxpayer,” she said.

Purra also proposed legal restrictions on clothing that covers the face, citing burqas and niqabs as examples. She said such garments raise questions about cultural cohesion and integration.

She repeated claims that demographic change is not a conspiracy theory or extremist rhetoric, but a visible reality. The Finns Party has previously used the term “population replacement,” which has been classified as a conspiracy theory associated with far-right violence by Finland’s Security Intelligence Service.

“The left has no answers,” she said. “Their strategy is either avoidance or automatic criticism.”

Jani Mäkelä, parliamentary group chair, opened the meeting by accusing former Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s cabinet of pushing the economy into a downward spiral. He claimed Finland now performs worse than its peer countries in key economic indicators.

Mäkelä also criticised the government’s coalition partners for rejecting the Finns Party’s proposals.

“When Purra proposes responsible savings, other government MPs publicly deny it’s even possible,” he said. “Are proposals to be rejected just because they come from the Finns Party?”

Mäkelä said the party is alone in defending the core duties of the state.

Purra addressed recent criticism over her planned €100 million cut to state grants for social and health organisations, or “sote” groups.

Speaking about former politicians now leading publicly funded organisations, she said: “Nothing is as disgusting as hearing wealthy ex-politicians now heading organisations complain that the Finns Party is destroying civil society. It’s complete nonsense.”

Her remarks may have referred to Sanna Aunesluoma, CEO of Hyvinvointiala HALI ry, which represents private healthcare and social service providers. Aunesluoma is a former National Coalition Party MP.

Following the Ministry of Finance’s budget proposal in August, HALI issued a statement criticising the proposed cuts. Aunesluoma warned that new reductions would weaken the foundation of civil society.

She told Helsingin Sanomat she does not want to speculate on Purra’s remarks. “She’s doing her job,” she said, referring to the finance minister’s goal of balancing public finances.

Aunesluoma said she hopes the governing parties will reject the planned cut. She said previous cuts have already reduced state support to the sector by €140 million during the current parliamentary term.

The proposed additional cut would bring the total reduction to around 60 percent compared to the baseline funding level.

“The concern arose when the Ministry of Finance briefing indicated a new €100 million cut for next year,” Aunesluoma said. “Together with existing reductions, it would push the total down to unsustainable levels.”

She said such a large reduction in a short time could not be implemented in a controlled manner.

Aunesluoma said that sote organisations now need time to adapt to existing reductions instead of facing new budget pressures.

The Finns Party’s summer meeting will continue until Wednesday.

HT

Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi

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