Austrian Member of the European Parliament Andreas Schieder has condemned what he described as an unprecedented attack on the European Union’s election observation mission in Serbia, following objections raised by Serbia’s acting president, Ana Brnabić, to his appointment as head of the European Parliament delegation.
Schieder, who will lead the delegation monitoring Serbia’s upcoming elections, told Austria’s APA news agency on the sidelines of the European Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg that protests against the mission had reached an unprecedented level.
Brnabić, in a letter addressed to European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, accused Schieder and other members of the delegation of political bias, according to Serbian broadcaster N1.
In the letter, seen by APA, Brnabić alleged that Schieder had repeatedly and visibly violated the Code of Conduct for International Election Observers while monitoring Serbia’s December 2023 elections.
Schieder has previously criticized the government of former Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić.
Austrian MEPs Back Schieder
Schieder received support from Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) MEP Lukas Mandl, who defended his appointment to lead the European Parliament’s election observation delegation.
“Serbia believes it can decide for itself who will carry out this election observation. Austria is a strong supporter of the six Western Balkan countries. As an Austrian, Andreas Schieder is the ideal choice to lead the election observation mission,” Mandl said.
Brnabić’s letter also questioned the impartiality of Helmut Brandstätter, an MEP from Austria’s liberal NEOS party who is also a member of the delegation.
According to Austrian public broadcaster ORF, Brnabić questioned how Brandstätter could approach the electoral process impartially and base his assessments on verified facts, given his repeated public criticism of Vučić’s government.
The dispute comes ahead of Serbia’s upcoming elections, placing the European Parliament’s monitoring mission under increased political scrutiny. The allegations of bias remain claims made by Brnabić, while Schieder’s appointment has received public backing from fellow Austrian MEPs.
