Bulgaria and Romania’s EU entry should be seen as a new stage in the EU enlargement process, Greek president Karolos Papoulias said.

Serbia and other Balkan countries should be given the chance to become union members, Papoulias said. To guarantee stability and peace within Europe, the Balkans needed to be re-integrated, said he.

Bulgaria and Romania’s entry was not an end to the enlargement process, Papoulias said as quoted by Bulgarian National Radio.

Papoulias said he supported Turkey’s EU membership, as long as Ankara met accession criteria and pulled its troops out of Cyprus.

During a visit to Germany Papoulias would lobby for the approval of the common European constitution. The acceptance of the document was put aside after it was rejected during national referenda in France and the Netherlands, the national radio reported.