With gross salaries in the company amounting to over EUR8.1 million (the employer’s spending per gross wage of EUR450 multiplied by 12 months multiplied by 1,500 permanent employees), it results that Nokia paid over EUR2.3 million for the employees’ social security contributions alone.
But the amount of taxes paid by Nokia does not match the promises made by the company and by Romanian authorities in 2008.
The Romanian state will collect EUR100 million per year from value added tax, profit tax and social security contributions paid to employees after the Nokia Village will be 100% functional. This is the amount put forward by Marius Nicoara, former president of the Cluj County Council, who is credited with bringing the Nokia investment to Cluj.
Then, he admitted there were no certainties and that the situation at Bochum Germany (where Nokia closed down its plant before coming to Romania) would not be replicated a few years later in Jucu, but said unlike in Germany, where there was only one plant, Romania had the advantage of having both the plant and its suppliers in the same place.
At the end of last week, Nicoara, currently a senator, said Nokia was leaving Jucu because the Romanian authorities had not met its commitments: Nokia wanted big intercontinental aircraft to land in Cluj and was unhappy cargo terminal was abandoned and the runway being built was too small.
In response, representatives of the management of the Cluj County Council said in the contract signed with Nokia there was no obligation to build a runway and a cargo terminal at the Cluj-Napoca International Airport, or else risk to be penalized by contract termination and plant closure.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)