Week in Review: New Waves, New Tensions

Mission Impossible

The new High Representative and EU Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, German diplomat Christian Schmidt, speaks during the inaugural press conference, in Sarajevo Bosnia and herzegovina, 04 August 2021. Schmidt he is the eighth international administrator in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the end of the 1992-1995 Balkan war. EPA-EFE/FEHIM DEMIR

Bosnia's new High Representative Christian Schmidt arrived in Bosnia at the beginning of August to assume his new job, but he will have no honeymoon period. Indeed, he lands straight into a 'mission impossible' of his own.

Not only has he inherited the role of international overseer in an increasingly dysfunctional country, but his predecessor, Valentin Inzko, has left him with a parting gift - the genocide denial law that he handed down as one of his last acts, which has infuriated Bosnian Serb political actors and led to a boycott of state institutions. Schmidt will need all his wits, experience as well as firm international backing if he - and Bosnia - are to swim, rather than sink in the near future.

Read more: New Bosnian Peace Envoy Inherits Mission Impossible (August 9, 2021)

New Waves, New Tensions

EU Council President Charles Michel attends to give a statement ahead of a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Brussels, Belgium, 09 March 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/STEPHANIE LECOCQ

As the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan proceeds at an unexpected pace, there are growing concerns in both the EU and Turkey over the steadily growing wave of Afghan refugees making their way towards Europe. With Turkey already hosting close to 4 million refugees - mostly from Syria - there is growing unease within the country...