Mari Rantanen
Rantanen in 2023.
Member of the Finnish Parliament
for Helsinki
Assumed office
17 April 2019
Minister of the Interior
Assumed office
20 June 2023
Prime MinisterPetteri Orpo
Preceded byKrista Mikkonen
Personal details
Born (1976-03-29) 29 March 1976 (age 48)
Political partyFinns Party

Mari Rantanen (born 29 March 1976) is a Finnish politician of the Finns Party currently serving in the Parliament of Finland for the Helsinki constituency.[1] Before her political career, Rantanen worked as a nurse and as a police officer.[1][2]

In June 2023, she was appointed Minister of the Interior in the Orpo Cabinet.[3]

Controversies

After her appointment, Rantanen's past remarks came under scrutiny, as she has continuously written about the Great Replacement, even using the hashtag #väestönvaihto (Finnish for the Great Replacement) repeatedly on Twitter. Finnish Security Intelligence Service considers that the Great Replacement is one of the noteworthy ideological motivations of far-right terrorism and notes that it has been highlighted in several far-right terrorist attacks.[4]

Ahead of the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election, Rantanen wrote a candidate brief on her website in which she remarked on immigration: "we must not be so blue-eyed (a Finnish term for "naive") that soon we will not be blue-eyed (a feature often associated with white people)".[5]

In an interview with Iltalehti, Rantanen was asked what she meant by no longer being blue-eyed, and she replied: "I mean exactly what it says." She denied referring to racial theories, and when asked if she believed in the Great Replacement, she replied: "I believe in statistics." When asked what kind of statistics, Rantanen answered "demographics," instructed the interviewer to look at demographic changes in Sweden and suggested trying to avoid such changes in Finland. Rantanen then ended the interview.[5]

In 2016, Rantanen wrote on social media that the boats of asylum seekers crossing the Mediterranean Sea should be stopped or otherwise "there will be a war". She also liked a comment that stated that refugees should be left to drown and another that called refugees parasites.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b The Finnish Parliament (Eduskunta) profile: Mari Rantanen
  2. ^ Aalto, Esa (19 June 2023). "Uusi sisäministeri Mari Rantanen: Tällä hallituskaudella ei pelastajien amk-koulutusta edistetä - tavoitteena valtion rahoitus Pelastuskoululle".
  3. ^ "Prime Minister Orpo's Government appointed". Valtioneuvosto. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
  4. ^ "Sisäministeri Rantanen on viitannut kirjoituksissaan väestönvaihtoon". Ilta-Sanomat. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  5. ^ a b "Sisäministeri Mari Rantanen kommentoi rotuoppiin liitettyä kirjoitustaan: "Uskon tilastoihin"". Iltalehti. 22 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  6. ^ "Ministeri Rantasen nettiteksteistä kohu: Peukutti pakolaisten hukuttamiselle ja "pakoloisille"". Iltalehti. 4 July 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2023.


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