Finland\u2019s opposition Social Democratic Party has proposed linking immigrants\u2019 social security to language studies and restricting free interpreting services after a set period in the country as part of a new package on integration and youth crime.<\/p>\n
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The SDP presented the proposals at its summer meeting in Kouvola. The party said Finland should demand more from immigrants while working to prevent segregation and the formation of parallel communities.<\/p>\n
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The proposals come ahead of Finland\u2019s parliamentary election next April.<\/p>\n
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The party said people moving to Finland should learn Finnish or Swedish, commit to the \u201ccore values and norms of Finnish society\u201d and abandon practices from their countries of origin that conflict with them.<\/p>\n
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SDP MP Saku Nikkanen said Finland had not achieved its integration goals and argued that immigrants should take more responsibility for learning the language.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe need to place more responsibility for learning the language on immigrants themselves,\u201d Nikkanen said at the party meeting.<\/p>\n
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The SDP wants authorities to examine whether social security benefits for immigrants should depend on participation in language studies. It also proposes assessing whether free interpreting services should end after a person has lived in Finland for a specified period.<\/p>\n
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Nikkanen said access to interpreters would still need to remain available in situations where removing the service would affect a person\u2019s legal rights.<\/p>\n
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The party also raised the possibility of limiting the duration of the child home care allowance, with increasing employment among immigrant mothers among the objectives.<\/p>\n
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SDP parliamentary group chair Tytti Tuppurainen rejected suggestions that the party was seeking support from Finns Party voters.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe will not tolerate discrimination, prejudice or scaremongering about immigration,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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The SDP said its approach draws in part on experiences in Sweden and Denmark. Party representatives have held discussions with Swedish Social Democrats about integration, segregation and gang crime.<\/p>\n
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Party secretary Mikkel N\u00e4kk\u00e4l\u00e4j\u00e4rvi said Swedish counterparts had urged Finland to act before problems associated with gangs and segregation reached the scale seen in Sweden.<\/p>\n
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The package also includes changes to criminal sentencing. The SDP wants Finland to consider a new aggravating factor that would double the applicable sentencing range in specified cases.<\/p>\n
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The measure would cover repeated serious violent or sexual offences, inducing a child under 15 to commit a serious offence, crimes committed as part of an organised criminal group or gang, and cases in which someone travels to Finland specifically to commit a crime.<\/p>\n
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At the same time, the party proposes intervention programmes for young offenders. A young person\u2019s sentence could be reduced if they participated in support measures under a plan involving several public services.<\/p>\n
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The SDP also proposes changes in schools, including greater integration of pupils studying Finnish or Swedish as a second language into mainstream classes. It also wants schools to reconsider open-plan learning spaces in favour of enclosed classrooms where appropriate.<\/p>\n
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Finns Party second deputy chair Joakim Vigelius described the SDP\u2019s immigration proposals as moving in the right direction but questioned the party\u2019s credibility.<\/p>\n
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