Christian Schmidt

"There is absolutely no acceptable reason for glorifying convicted war criminals," the new High Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany's Christian Schmidt, said.

He explained that many things needed to be understood when looking at the past.

That was said by the Serbian member of the Presidency of BiH and the leader of the SNSD, Milorad Dodik.

The fact that the UN Security Council did not adopt the Russian-Chinese resolution on the appointment of the High Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina for one year means that the representative of Germany, Christian Schmidt, was not appointed to that position, which remains vacant, said First Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Natio

Only the proponents of this resolution, China and Russia, voted for the draft, Banja Luka's "Nezavisne novine" reported.
No one was against, and 13 representatives of the member states of the Security Council abstained.

Rebooting the System

The European union flag flies over the apostolic palace during visit of the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen at the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis, Vatican City, 22 May 2021. EPA-EFE/FABIO FRUSTACI

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Wednesday that from now on, Belgrade wants to see regular reports from the High Representative, the official tasked with overseeing the implementation of the 1995 Dayton peace deal that ended the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Dzaferovic believes that Serbia has no rights when it comes to the appointment of the High Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina and that the only obligation that Serbia has under the Dayton Agreement is to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina by "not taking any action that would violate those values of BiH in any way".

Berlin has given no indication that Schmidt's appointment signifies any meaningful increase in its commitments to Bosnia; a fact which is readily apparent given that Chancellor Angela Merkel is herself preparing to step down later this year.

Christian Schmidt of Germany will take over from Valentin Inzko as head of the international community's Office of High representative, OHR, to Bosnia from August 1, the Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council, PIC, which groups countries overseeing the peace in Bosnia, confimed on Thursday.

The parliament of the Bosnian Serb entity, Republika Srpska, RS, on Wednesday called for the closure of the Office of the High Representative, OHR, the international body overseeing the peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina.