The European Commission (EC) has defended the European Parliament (EP) delegation set to observe Serbia’s parliamentary elections, after Belgrade objected to its composition and accused some of its members of political bias.
“We take very seriously all attempts to discredit Members of the European Parliament participating in election observation,” European Commission spokesperson Christian Wiegand said at a press conference.
He stressed that the delegation’s work is based on clear standards, impartiality and years of expertise, urging all countries including EU candidate and potential candidate countries to cooperate constructively and transparently with international election observation efforts.
Wiegand also highlighted the importance of the long-term election observation mission deployed by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) at the request of Serbian authorities, alongside the invitation extended to the European Parliament. Both, he said, are important steps toward credible election monitoring and strengthening the contribution of domestic observers to electoral integrity.
The EC’s response followed a letter sent by Serbian Parliament Speaker and Acting President Ana Brnabić to European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, in which she objected to the delegation’s composition, particularly the appointment of Austrian MEP Andreas Schieder as its head.
Brnabić claimed that the public activities of several delegation members demonstrated what she described as their “complete political bias.”
The European Parliament subsequently confirmed that it had no intention of changing the delegation’s composition ahead of Serbia’s early parliamentary elections scheduled for Sunday, October 25.
On October 22, Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker also responded to the controversy, saying Vienna did not consider the criticism directed at Schieder, an Austrian national, to be a positive signal.
The European Commission reiterated that it was closely monitoring the upcoming vote, stressing that free, fair and transparent elections are fundamental to European democracy and must meet European and international standards.
Earlier, a group of US senators from both major political parties had issued similar calls for free and fair elections in Serbia.
The OSCE has deployed several hundred observers to monitor the early parliamentary elections. Serbia entered its official election silence period at midnight ahead of Sunday’s vote.
