It’s Time ‘Europe+’ Asserted Leadership and Challenged the US in Bosnia

As Christian Schmidt readies to quit as High Representative, Europe and its allies must resolutely push for a powerful successor – and forget ‘compromising’ with a United States that has radically shifted position in the region. The succession of High Representative Christian Schmidt, who on May 10 announced his aim to depart until a successor is chosen to replace him, will demonstrate whether the EU and its wider circle of allies – what I and colleagues at the Democratization Policy Council cal

Now is the time for Europe+ to get collectively serious about geopolitics in the region in which the EU is most empowered. The UN Security Council meeting on May 11, at which Schmidt presented his final report, demonstrated the extent to which Donald Trump’s administration has shifted its posture from previous US bipartisan baselines – and even from its own. This began with the lifting last October of Treasury Department sanctions on Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, his family, and a host of officials, individuals and officials around him. In her remarks at the UN session , US ambassador Tammy Bruce stated that the Office was never intended to last forever and that Schmidt’s successor should be in place by June and have “a far more limited set of responsibilities”. She said Washington would evaluate the nominees based on “trust and impartiality” and oppose all candidates who threaten stability – stating that the US has its own candidates if need be. Observers unfamiliar with any of the context of the changes in the US and the current political environment in Bosnia might read this state as forward-looking business as usual; in fact, it represents a radical shift that has brought the American position more in line with longtime opponents of the High Representative and his so-called Bonn Powers , such as the Republika Srpska’s Milorad Dodik, Bosnian Croat leader Dragan Covic and Russia. Echoes were immediate: Moscow’s representative even used one of Dodik’s favourite terms of invective, saying the OHR had visited “legal violence against a sovereign country”. Russia and China did not miss the opportunity to state that Schmidt was never a legitimate High Representative to begin with. EU members Denmark, France, Greece and Latvia represented a narrower spectrum, backing not only the Office but the role of the High Representative and the other peace enforcement tool mandated by the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement – EUFOR, which succeeded NATO’s force, SFOR, 21 years ago. The Danish Ambassador called out Dodik’s secessionist rhetoric and derogatory statements on the basis of religion and ethnicity, against Muslims and Bosniaks. British Ambassador James Kariuki was also direct , underscoring support for a “fully empowered” High Representative, reiterating that the 5+2 formula remained the benchmark for closure of the Office, and stating that “significant electoral fraud” had occurred in Republika Srpska. Kariuki also highlighted the “importance of constitutional reform that reflects the needs of all citizens and implements European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence”.

Key points

• Now is the time for Europe+ to get collectively serious about geopolitics in the region in which the EU is most empowered.
• The UN Security Council meeting on May 11, at which Schmidt presented his final report, demonstrated the extent to which Donald Trump’s administration has shifted its posture from previous US bipar…
• This began with the lifting last October of Treasury Department sanctions on Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, his family, and a host of officials, individuals and officials around him.
• In her remarks at the UN session , US ambassador Tammy Bruce stated that the Office was never intended to last forever and that Schmidt’s successor should be in place by June and have “a far more l…
• She said Washington would evaluate the nominees based on “trust and impartiality” and oppose all candidates who threaten stability – stating that the US has its own candidates if need be.