“It gives rise to the idea that a non-native Finn could somehow be untrustworthy or unpatriotic,” says MP Bella Forsgrén.
Members of Parliament Bella Forsgren (green) and Ben Zyskowicz (kok) oppose the presidential candidate and the speaker of the parliament Jussi Halla-ahon (ps) proposal to demand the citizenship of native Finland from MPs and ministers.
Neither Forsgrén nor Zyskowicz have been Finnish citizens since birth. They got their citizenship as a child.
The president of Finland is required to be a Finnish citizen by birth. There was news on Tuesdaythat in Yle's election machine Halla-aho not only wanted to keep the demand, but also proposed it to ministers and MPs.
“It is important that the president has deep roots in Finnish soil. The birth requirement could very well be extended to ministers and MPs as well,” Halla-aho reasoned in the election machine.
Congressman Bella Forsgrén considers Halla-aho's position to be exclusionary and a kind of “salon racism”.
“There is quite a racist undertone here. That only descent would determine a person's opportunities to participate at a certain level in society,” he says.
“It gives rise to the idea that a non-native Finn could somehow be untrustworthy or unpatriotic.”
Forsgrén was an Ethiopian citizen until the age of three. Through adoption, he became a Finnish citizen. He says that he has lived in Finland since he was a child and that he attended all his schools here, “exactly the same social process”.
In his opinion, the idea of parliamentary representation only for native Finns is against the principles of democracy.
“Yes, the main idea of democracy is that people have the freedom to vote for the Finn they feel is good at the job.”
Forsgren would waive the natural born citizenship requirement from the president as well. Finnish citizenship alone should be enough for him.
He wonders why descent is considered an essential issue in the election of the president, when there would be more important criteria such as competence and experience.
Forsgrén says he remembers the moment he first heard about the president's claim of citizenship. It was in social studies class in the first grade of high school.
“I remember feeling the feeling that it felt unfair. That what evil have I done, that I have not contributed to that matter. After all, I haven't decided that I've been adopted,” he says.
“Basically, it feels like equality is being taken at such a theoretical level. Even though I haven't dreamed of the presidency at this point.”
The current one Ben Zyskowicz, the parliament's longest serving member of parliament, was born in Helsinki in 1954.
However, his parents were not Finnish citizens, and the whole family did not get citizenship until 1959. Zyskowicz was then five years old.
He also disagrees with Halla-aho.
“I would say briefly like this that it is Halla-aho's opinion. And I will not comment further on his thoughts. I am naturally satisfied that I have been able to act as a member of parliament, even though I am not a Finnish citizen by birth.”
Zyskowicz says that he felt himself to be just as Finnish as those who received Finnish citizenship at birth.
Until 1991, citizenship by birth was also required of members of the State Council, i.e. ministers. According to Zyskowicz, this came across to him “sometimes in speeches”, and he acted to overturn the claim.
Statutory expert Pauli Rautiainen pointed out on Wednesday in the message service X that the idea of a MP's birth requirement was already found to be unconstitutional in the 1980s.
“When the constitution prevents the imposition of a nationality requirement on a minister, it also analogously prevents it from being imposed on a member of parliament,” Rautiainen wrote.
Otherwise like Forsgrén, however, Zyskowicz would retain the claim on the president.
The demand for him is justified for the president, because the president is the “symbol of the nation”. In the same way, an individual member of parliament or minister does not represent the entire nation alone. He points out that, for example, the United States has a similar practice.
“It may be that this is a bit of a conservative idea and even this will change over the decades”, says Zyskowicz, however, referring to Finland.
Also MP born in Afghanistan Nasima Razmyar (sd) has taken a position in the discussion in the message service X.
“When we talk about election eligibility, we're basically talking about whether one has to be born Finnish or whether one can become Finnish. The birth requirement, expanded in the way Halla-aho demanded, is exactly the kind of ethno-nationalism that the Basic Finns have assured they will quit,” he wrote on Tuesday.
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