The declassification of privatization contracts in the Romanian energy sector, requested by the Supreme Defense Council on Wednesday, has already started but the contracts would be fully published on the Economy Ministry website only when all the “thousands of pages of contracts will be scanned and readied for publishing”, Ministry counsellor Razvan Calin has told HotNews.ro.

Presidency spokeswoman Adriana Saftoiu also said there was no clear deadline in this regard.

President Traian Basescu has pressed for the declassification after a series of reports that revealed abusive terms in the privatization of Romanian oil major Petrom, bought by Austrian group OMV.

Basescu has first used the threat of contracts declassification in 2005 as the domestic oil market was confronted with a temporary crisis. It had been requested as early as 2004, when many of these contracts were signed.

Razvan Calin assured companies there would be no legal problems related to the declassification so “those who signed these contracts have no reason to oppose” the move.