Finnish Economy Minister Vilhelm Junila “survived” today a parliamentary motion of censure brought against him by the opposition over reports the minister had made that were linked to the Nazis.

Junila is a member of the nationalist Finns Party, which is part of the right-wing coalition government that took power last week after elections in April.

The opposition accused him of repeatedly making Nazi references, the most recent of which was during his election campaign.

According to public broadcaster YLE, Yunila had congratulated his party colleague because his candidate number was 88.

88 is a well-known symbol of neo-Nazis, who use it in place of the Nazi salute Heil Hitler, as the initial of these words in German, H (Heil Hitler), is the eighth of the German alphabet. According to the non-governmental organization Anti-Defamation League, it is “one of the most common symbols of so-called white supremacy”.

“First of all, congratulations on the excellent candidate number. I know it’s a trump card. Obviously, this ’88’ refers to two letters H, about which we will say nothing more,” Yunila said during his speech at a campaign rally on March 10, according to YLE.

Yunila apologized for what he said, saying it was a bad joke.

“I totally condemn the Holocaust, anti-Semitism and all anti-Semitic acts,” he wrote last Thursday on social media.

The motion of censure was filed by the Green Party. It was voted down by members of parliament, with 95 supporting the minister and 86 voting against him, including seven from the Swedish People’s Party, which is part of the governing coalition.

“Connections with far-right movements are not an isolated mistake, misunderstanding or bad humor, but rather a repeated, systematic and companionable relationship,” said Green Party MP Hanna Holopainen.

In 2019, Yunila gave a speech at an event organized by a far-right Finnish organization in memory of the victims of a 2017 knife attack by a Moroccan asylum seeker.

Rika Pura, head of the Finns Party, defended the minister on Twitter, accusing the opposition of trying to oust him over his “bad and inappropriate” humor.

Prime Minister Petri Orpo told reporters he had given Junila a “serious warning”.

In April’s election, the eurosceptic Finns Party, which is also anti-immigrant, came second with 20.1% of the vote, just behind the National Coalition which came first with 20.8%. The National Coalition then formed a governing coalition with the Finns Party and two smaller parties.