Bosnia Gets New US Ambassador After Delay

The new US ambassador to Sarajevo, Maureen Cormick, is arriving in Sarajevo this week to take up her post, officials said on Monday, raising hopes that she can bolster renewed Western efforts to help Bosnia restart its stalled reforms.

"I look forward to working with you and our European partners to get your country back on track to joining the EU and NATO, and the US remains committed to being your strongest partner on that journey," Cormick said in a video message published on the US embassy website.

The US has been supportive of a new approach that was initiated by the EU in mid-2014, but experts said that Washington needs to do more in light of the depth of Bosnia's crisis.

"The US has been supportive of EU initiative but my impression is that it can be a lot more assertive and more clear," Kurt Bassuener from the Democratization Policy Council think-tank told Balkan Insight.

Cormick is set to arrive on Tuesday and present her credentials to the Bosnian Presidency by the end of the week. 

The previous US ambassador to Bosnia, Patrick Moon, left the country in August 2013 but the appointment of a new ambassador was delayed by political wrangling in the US Senate. Cormick was nominated a year ago by US President Barack Obama and took her oath in the State Department earlier this month. 

Throughout this period, the position of US ambassador in Bosnia was vacant. Some local officials speculated that this was a sign of America's lack of interest in developments in Bosnia, while some experts warned that the prolonged absence of the ambassador may have weakened US authority in Bosnia.

In a written statement for Balkan Insight, the US embassy's Office of Public Affairs stressed that appointment of new...