Supplementary evidence submitted by European
Nickel
As you know, European Nickel submitted a memorandum
in connection with the Committee's enquiry in to Turkish Accession
to the EU at the end of January. I hope the Committee has found
this useful.
The purpose of this email is to update the Committee
on developments since then. In brief, the situation is unchanged.
European Nickel are in intensive negotiations with the Turkish
authorities in connection with th eissue of the much-delayed Forestry
Permit. However, a further six weeks have elapsed since Memorandum
was submitted. European Nickel's losses continue to mount at some
$1 million per month.
I do not need to rehearse the implications of
this for a relatively small company which developed this technologically
innovative and exciting project in Turkey because it took at face
value the Turkish government's professed commitment to facilitating
foreign investment there.
If Committee members feel able to raise European
Nickel in discussions with their Turkish interlocutors during
next week's visit, they may like to mention the loss to the Turkish
Exchequer resulting from the continuing delay in the issue of
the permit. If the Forestry Permit had been issued two years ago,
the following income would have been generated for the Turkish
government:
— withholding tax—$1 million;
— forestry fees—$3 million;
— social security payments and
employee income tax—$9 million; and
— corporation tax—$16 million
(This figure is based on a nickel price of $25,000 per ton. It
is currently about $31,000 per ton).
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