Eurasia Press & News
Representatives from the EU, US, Russia among others are meeting in Sarajevo where they are expected to debate the international community’s future role in Bosnia and confirm the country’s new top international envoy.
“The main focus of my mandate will be aimed at fulfillment of conditions for the closure of the Office of the High Representative, OHR, and the advancement of Bosnia and Herzegovina towards the EU integration,” Bosnia’s new top envoy Valentin Inzko told Balkan Insight in a telephone interview on Tuesday evening.
Two weeks ago, the EU leadership appointed the 59-year old Austrian diplomat the new EU Special Representative for Bosnia. The conference of the so-called Peace Implementation Council, which is taking place in the Bosnian capital on Wednesday and Thursday, is expected to confirm Inzko’s nomination as the head of the OHR.
The PIC conference comes at the time of the worst political crisis in Bosnia, since the end of the 1992-1995 war, which is why closure of the OHR – initially planned for 2007 – will most likely be postponed further. The remaining conditions for the OHR’s closure include the normalisation of the political situation, as well as legalisation of the Brcko district and regulation of the state property.
Despite escalating political tensions over the past few months, local leaders have managed to make headway in the fulfillment of the latter two conditions.
Leaders of the three main national parties, Milorad Dodik from the Serb Alliance of Social Democrats, Dragan Covic from the Croat Democratic Union and Sulejman Tihic from the Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) Party of Democratic Action, will hold a meeting on Wednesday, ahead of the PIC conference, to review the current situation and agree on the next steps in the implementation of these reforms.
Meetings of these three leaders, the so-called Prud group, have contributed to the breakthrough in fulfillment of conditions for OHR closure, but were halted in February over escalating political tensions.
Since Bosnian Serb leaders are eager to finally see OHR closed, they are expected to make sufficient compromises to allow the OHR’s closure by the end of this year, local and international officials and analysts say.
After that Inzko’s main task will be to lead and oversee transition of the OHR into new and reinforced Office of the EU Special Representative. In October 2008, the EU security and enlargement commissioners Javier Solana and Olli Rehn, presented their ideas about stronger EU engagement. The EU leadership continues debating and working on the strategy, which should take a more solid shape by the time of the OHR’s closure, a senior EU diplomat told Balkan Insight.
The main uncertainty and contest within the international community is over the current and eventual future use of OHR’s broad governing so-called Bonn powers. The previous High Representative Miroslav Lajcak admitted that he was unable to use these powers because of the lack of international support to the OHR.
Apparently learning from Lacak’s failures, Inzko underwent an intensive tour through Washington, Brussels, London, Moscow and other European capitals and gained unprecedented support even before officially taking up the office.
“Bonn powers should stay for the time being, but only as the last resort, only after all other options are tried,” Inzko told Balkan Insight. He said that in addition to politics, he intends to work on assisting local leaders in improving economic and social situation. “We cannot talk about democracy on peoples’ empty stomachs.”
