The European Commission said it doubted the legality of the decisions of several Romanian public authorities to write off a total of around €25 million in debts and reschedule another €0.52 million before the state-owned pipe and tube maker Petrotub was privatized and sold to Mittal four years ago. In the event that the amount of money in question is found to constitute an illegal state subsidy, there is a possibility that Mittal Steel Roman may have to pay back the debts involved.

The Commission expressed its doubts over whether the privatization was economically more advantageous for the public authorities than the liquidation of the company, as had been claimed by the Romanian authorities.