High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Christian Schmidt said today in Dayton on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement that he will work to be the last High Representative in BiH.
“Carl Bildt was the first, I am the eighth and I will work to be the last High Representative,” Schmidt said.
He added that at that point the international community would not completely withdraw, but would be in the background, warning that the international community still sees potential threats to peace and stability in BiH.
“Some irresponsible people in one entity, not an entity, have started illegal actions that attack the constitutional order,” Schmidt said.
According to him, people in BiH “expect the international community to be there in case of challenging situations.”
Speaking about the future, Schmidt said that a fair balance is needed “between the three peoples and others” to find solutions, adding that it is not easy to achieve a balance between ethnic groups.
He mentioned the decision of the European Court of Human Rights regarding the election of members of the Presidency of BiH, according to which “national minorities and others” were discriminated against in terms of the possibility of running for members of the state presidency.
“This is not preparation for EU integration, the European Court was clear 15 years ago, nothing has been done to fix this problem in the Constitution,” said Schmidt.
