Andreas Schieder, leader of the European Parliament observer delegation to the October 25 elections, said acting president Ana Brnabic’s protest letter is an unprecedented attack on the observers.
Oglas
The Austrian Social Democrat MEP to the APA news agency that the protest had reached an unprecedented scale.
Brnabic, a senior official of the ruling Serbian Porgressive Party (SNS), accused him and other members of the delegation of political bias in a letter to European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, claiming that their earlier public statements showed they had already reached conclusions about the Serbian authorities.
Schieder has criticised the Serbian regime several times. Brnabic also accused him of repeatedly violating the code of conduct for international election observers during the December 2023 elections in Serbia.
Austrian People's Party MEP Lukas Mandl defended Schieder's appointment, saying Serbia could not choose who observes its elections. Another delegation member, Austrian MEP Helmut Brandstatter, said he would focus on assessing whether the election was free and fair, regardless of criticism.
Teme