Romania was a "feral nation", former European commissioner for international relations Chirs Patten was saying in 2004, according to a statement revealed by WikiLeaks. The Guardian quotes from the leaked US embassy cables a statement made by Patten in April 2004, when he was speakeing of the chances of Bulgaria and Romania to join the European Union.

Patten said, according to the document, that Croatia was probably far more prepared for EU membership than either Bulgaria or Romania.

Romania, in particular, was a "feral nation", he is quoted as saying.

The websites of several international newspapers (New York Times, El Pais, The Guardian or Le Monde) started on Sunday night publishing documents from the 250,000 and more secret files on US diplomatic cables. The cables were made available by Wikileaks.