Letter: Hungarian hero too outspoken

Sir: Jonathan Eyal's erudite defence of the need by Nato not to neglect Romania in the likely event of Hungary's admission to that organisation by the end of the decade (letter, 18 September) sounds persuasive now that both countries have agreed to sign an inter-state treaty.

Unfortunately, though, Nato's criteria for admission would still leave Romania without the right to join the first wave of new members. It also needs to recognise its borders with Ukraine and Moldova.

Until the Romanian authorities drop their insistence on including in inter-state treaties with Ukraine and Moldova a denunciation of the Molotov- Ribbentrop Pact, a demand which is perceived in Kiev and Chisinau as a thinly disguised territorial claim, then Romania will not have fulfilled one of the three criteria for consideration of Nato membership.

TARAS KUZIO

University of Birmingham