Immigrants must accept Finnish "core values": Finnish president

While refugees continued to pour into Finland, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said on Saturday that people moving to Finland must accept key values prevailing in this Nordic country.

Talking in one-hour live phone-in on national radio accepting prearranged phone calls from citizens, Niinisto said that newcomers must accept core Finnish values.

He listed democracy, equality and human rights. Niinisto then mentioned explicitly that immigrants should be allowed to maintain their religion and "handle their family relationships in a large family culture."

Finnish family reunification criteria for non-EU persons cover the spouses and their dependent children. The exclusion of grandparents in the Finnish non-EU reunification criteria has often been met with disbelief by Asians and Africans settling in Finland.

Many immigrants in Finland have numerous children, whereas ethnic Finnish couples often have one or two. Last year a populist politician demanded that men of African background should be sterilized in Finland.

Niinisto said immigration restrictions should be used to their maximum limits. That would in his opinion meet the interests of those in Finland and those wanting to come to Finland. Endit