National Coalition Party (NCP) leader Petteri Orpo told the All Points North podcast that his party did not support curfews as opposition parties had been excluded from government negotiations on new restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus in Finland.
"Curfews should be a last resort," he said.
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The party leader tried to stay neutral on the party's internal split between liberal and conservative wings, noting that it was "against communism" but he would not word statements as harshly as some of his more conservative members.
Orpo, a former Finance Minister in the Juha Sipilä government which introduced the so-called activation model that sanctioned job seekers, said he was worried about the country's jobless rate.
"We have to take measures to encourage people to go to work. Today we have unfilled jobs and hundreds of thousands of unemployed people."
He also said Finland needed more immigrants in all facets of society to shore up the economy.
"If you speak very good English, it should be enough in many workplaces in Finland," he said, adding that his party wants to give every graduating foreign degree student the chance to start their professional life in Finland.
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This week's show was presented by Egan Richardson and Zena Iovino. It wasproduced by Mark B. Odom while the audio engineer was Pekka Nisu
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