The European Union (EU) takes very seriously any attempts to discredit election observers drawn from the European Parliament and expects all countries to engage constructively with international election observation missions, European Commission (EC) spokesperson Christian Wigand said in Brussels on Friday.
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Regarding Serbian Parliament speaker and acting Serbian President Ana Brnabic’s protest over the composition of the European Parliament observation delegation for the October 25 Serbian parliamentary elections, Wigand said that the work of international observation missions is based on clear standards, impartiality, and long-standing expertise.
“Specifically on the election observation missions, let me be clear that we take any attempts to discredit members of the European Parliament and the election observers very seriously,” Wigand said at the Friday press briefing.
He added that election observation missions deployed by well-established international organizations, including those featuring members of the European Parliament, play an important role in ensuring that democratic processes and accountability are respected.
“Their work is based on clear standards, impartiality, and long-standing expertise, so we expect all countries, including of course candidate countries and potential candidates, to engage constructively and transparently with recognized international election observation efforts,” Wigand said.
The EC spokesperson reiterated that the EU is closely following the upcoming elections in Serbia, and noted that free, fair and transparent elections are at the core of European democracy and that they “must be organized in line with European and international standards.”
“The deployment of the long-term OSCE ODIHR election observation mission at the request of the Serbian authorities, as well as the invitation to the European Parliament, are important steps toward ensuring credible election observation and supporting the contribution of domestic observers to the integrity of the electoral process,” Wigand said.
Earlier, Brnabic - who also serves as Serbia’s acting president - sent a letter to European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, protesting the makeup of the EU legislative body’s election observation mission, particularly targeting the appointment of Andreas Schieder as its head.
In the letter, Brnabic argued that the past public conduct of several mission members proves they are “politically biased,” but the European Parliament announced it has no intention of changing the lineup of the delegation set to observe Serbia’s October 25 parliamentary elections.
Alongside numerous domestic monitors, Serbia’s parliamentary elections will be monitored by several international missions deployed by ODIHR, the European Parliament, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
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