The president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Pere Joan Pons Sampietro, has rebuffed criticism from EU Members of Parliament over the makeup of the election‑observation mission in Hungary.
In a letter reported by the “Spiegel”, Pons addressed the signatories of a protest note and stated that he has “full confidence” in the two political chief observers he appointed, as well as in the mission’s secretariat. He noted that the standard by which performance is judged is the Code of Conduct, and so far the secretariat has not experienced a loss of confidence or a breach of that code.
The background to the dispute is a letter from 56 MEPs demanding the removal of an OSCE staff member who, according to media reports, previously worked as an interpreter for the Russian Foreign Ministry and allegedly translated for Russian President Vladimir Putin. In his response, Pons warned against “public defamation” and cited targeted attacks on staff-particularly on women.
German MEP Daniel Freund of the Greens called the reply evasive. Civil society groups and opposition parties refused to meet as long as a “Putin confidante” was part of the mission, arguing that election observation could not function under such conditions.
Pons has invited a formal briefing on 26 and 27 April in Copenhagen. Hungary is scheduled to hold its elections on 12 April.
