Image: Tytti Sulander / Yle

The self-proclaimed far left-leaning French publication titles its retrospective on the coalition partner the Finns Party "Helsinki moves away from Europe". It spares none of its characteristic irreverent satire in unpacking the reasons for the Finns Party’s meteoric rise in the polls and the corresponding surge in euroscepticism in Finland.

Journalist Jean-Yves Camus wastes no time in drawing attention to the party’s previous English-language name, the True Finns, which was later updated when party officials decided to leave behind the "True" adjective. According to Charlie Hebdo, when the party chose to self-identify as representatives of real Finns, it set itself apart from "wrong Finns" such as Swedish-speaking Finns, the Sámi, the Russian-speaking minority and immigrants. The article illustrates the point with a sketch of a moose with a caption "right Finn", and another of a dark-skinned person – apparently an immigrant – with the caption "wrong Finn".

The paper points out however, that party leader and current Foreign Minister Timo Soini himself represents a slender minority as a self-proclaimed devout Catholic – a clear exception from the Lutheran Evangelical mainstream in Finland.

A potent mix of mock-socialism, euroscepticism and xenophobia

The paper seeks to unravel how a Catholic like Soini was able to lead his party to election success and even further into the halls of government. It concludes that the recipe for success was not very complex.

According to the Charlie Hebdo writer, as an individual, Soini has managed to shake up Finland’s otherwise lack-lustre politics and sell voters on his party’s brand of "mock-socialism" in its election manifesto, in which the party positions itself as the champion of the ordinary Finn.

Now however, the party is part of a government that has engineered a record six-billion euro austerity budget, the paper points out. Add to that a generous helping of euroscepticism and xenophobia and you get a highly potent mix, the satirists note.

Charlie Hebdo points to the controversial Facebook post of Helsinki city councilor Olli Sademies – who called for the forced sterilisation of African men – as the latest example of the party’s position on immigration.

“When it comes to xenophobia, it’s important for the party to maintain its public position. Immediately after its election triumph however, a party representative suggested that African men arriving in the country should be forcibly sterilised after the third child,” writes the magazine.

According to the publication the party leadership reveals its skill in how it deals with these kinds of awkward missteps by publicly distancing itself from "black sheep" like Sademies.

Paper: Compromises put Finns Party in government

At the end of the day though, the Finns Party leadership are a pragmatic bunch, the paper writes. The art of compromise ushered them into the government, putting them in a position to directly influence the country’s EU and immigration policy and to even demand cuts to development aid. Charlie Hebdo also lists the elevation of 36 year-old Maria Lohela to the Speaker’s chair as a personal triumph for Timo Soini.

“The anti-elite and anti-EU populists are now able to chart Finland’s future along with the former EU Commissioner Olli Rehn and corporate millionaires Juha Sipilä and Anne Berner,” Camus concludes.

Charlie Hebdo is a highly popular French satirical magazine that pokes holes in extremism and religious fundamentalism. The paper’s irreverent treatment of these themes has often put it in the crosshairs of extreme Islamist organisations.

In January the Paris-based magazine became the target of an armed terrorist attack that killed 12 people. The siege triggered a mass movement in support of freedom of speech that saw a surge in the magazine’s sales. The paper currently has more than 220,000 subscribers and also sells nearly the same number of stand-alone issues.