European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas said on Monday after a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council that the EU supports the appointment of a new High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina through the Peace Implementation Council (PIC), whose session is planned for June.
Speaking about the political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the resignation of Christian Schmidt, Kallas stressed that the functioning of the state is already complex, but that it could be further complicated.
“Maybe the question is rhetorical, but can the functioning of the state be more complex? I think it actually can,” Kallas said.
She added that EU ministers discussed supporting the process of appointing a new High Representative through the PIC, emphasizing that this is a format that the European Union supports.
Kallas also addressed security challenges in the Western Balkans region, especially hybrid threats.
“The Western Balkan countries are concerned about the hybrid attacks they are seeing in society. We exchanged views on the practices in Armenia and Moldova and we hope that the countries of the region will be resilient to these attacks,” she said.
She emphasized that malign influence is a serious problem and emphasized the importance of strengthening cooperation and resilience of the countries of the region.
After almost five years as High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, a mandate based on Annex 10 of the Dayton Peace Agreement, Christian Schmidt has made a personal decision to end his service in peace implementation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Office of the High Representative (OHR) announced.
He informed the PIC Steering Board of his decision and requested the initiation of the process of appointing his successor.
