The Office of the High Representative (OHR) has written the 69th report on Bosnia and Herzegovina, which will be presented at the UN Security Council session scheduled for May 12. In addition to the usual problems, Christian Schmidt highlights the third entity, state property and secessionism in the report.
Schmidt’s report covers the period from October 16, 2025 to April 15 of this year and defines the key challenges and political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina over the past six months.
The report emphasizes that the overall security situation in BiH is stable but fragile and that the role of EUFOR remains relevant and justified. Disagreements over the Dayton Agreement are cited as an obstacle to the functioning of institutions, the blockade of which has been particularly pronounced in the past period.
The deadlock of institutions is listed as one of the key challenges in BiH, and in addition, Schmidt’s report also lists the RS narrative, the issue of state property and the judicial blockade as key problems.
The report also addresses institutional and economic issues such as the budget, BHRT funding and elections, and corruption is an essential topic.
Highlights of the report
The blockade of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s institutions has emerged as the biggest problem in the past few months covered by the Schmidt report. The High Representative therefore stresses that institutions that were supposed to enable functionality are becoming a point of deadlock.
“As we enter the fourth decade of our engagement, institutions designed to enable the country to function as a sovereign state are being held hostage by actors seeking to strengthen sub-state institutions, mainly in the Republika Srpska. Nowhere has this trend been more visible than in the upper house of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the House of Peoples, where quorum rules requiring the presence of a majority of all representatives of each constituent people for a session to be held have been used as a blocking mechanism,” the report states.
The report then points out that other BiH institutions have also “experienced politically motivated obstruction of their work or decision-making”, and as an example, the Constitutional Court of BiH is cited, which lacks members from the RS, given that the RS National Assembly refuses to appoint them. One example is the failure to adopt the budget and the fact that BiH was on temporary funding until the end of 2025.
The financial difficulties for institutions in the defense and security sector were also highlighted, and the problem of BHRT and cultural institutions of importance to BiH was also highlighted.
The establishment of a third entity
In the report to the UN, Schmidt also refers to the recent conference on “failed BiH” and the third entity, which was held in Zagreb, and at which a map of the third entity in BiH was shown.
“The recent debate on the establishment of a third entity has exposed the vulnerability of these attacks on the constitutional order and attempts to further divide Bosnia and Herzegovina along ethnic lines.
The narratives behind this, which include projecting Bosnia and Herzegovina as a clash of civilizations where Christianity has been under attack by radical Islam for the past 30 years, serve the same purpose,” the report states.
It stresses that such moves can be seen as “an attempt to destroy the multiethnic, multireligious and multicultural character of Bosnia and Herzegovina and what remains of trust between the constituent peoples and citizens”.
“The destruction of the prospect of reconciliation lies at the heart of these statements, which have gained new momentum since the outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East. In this context, the issue of foreign influence has been deliberately exaggerated in order to deepen divisions in the country. The purpose of such narratives is to stimulate certain political reflexes abroad in addition to deepening divisions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is a corrosive strategy that some politicians are excessively using to stay in power and strengthen their influence over institutions and resources”, the report states.
State property, with a focus on FBiH
The unresolved dispute over state property, according to Schmidt’s report, is another factor contributing to stagnation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“I remain convinced that creating the conditions for the use of state property for development projects of public interest is urgent. A situation in which investment projects involving state property are legally impossible or require public authorities willing to ignore the law is unsustainable,” it said.
Schmidt stressed that the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the primary victim of the absence of a state-level solution that would satisfy the principles established by the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“I remain convinced that opening up that entity and the wider country to domestic and foreign investment through a solution to the state property issue in accordance with these principles would contribute to changing the prevailing political dynamics in a positive way and should therefore be a priority,” Schmidt wrote.
Return to RS secessionism
Schmidt said that the leadership of Republika Srpska had taken several positive steps when they repealed controversial laws that challenged the constitutional order of BiH. However, he stressed that despite these steps, the RS leadership continues to challenge the Dayton Agreement and reinforces secessionist messages.
“The recent rhetoric of the leader of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), Milorad Dodik, who now appears free from institutional constraints, most notably in his remarks at the commemoration in Donja Gradina in April 2026, has signaled a return to more explicit secessionist narratives,” the report said.
Schmidt believes Dodik’s statements are a sign that the SNSD is returning to harsher, secessionist messages.
“By framing the ‘unity of the Serbian people’ as a geopolitical inevitability, he has portrayed Republika Srpska in a transitional phase towards a permanent state union with Serbia. This may be a sign that the SNSD’s ideological campaign is returning to a more aggressive secessionist stronghold in order to mobilize the electorate for the general elections in October 2026,” Schmidt said.
“Serbian House” despite warnings from the supervisor for the Brčko District
Schmidt also addressed the formation of the “Serbian House” in the Brčko District in the report.
“The issue of the ‘Serbian House’, i.e. the property purchased by the Catering Service of the Government of Republika Srpska to expand its activities in the District, has not yet been resolved,” he stated.
As a reminder, the Catering Service of the Government of Republika Srpska is a professional service of the Government of Republika Srpska intended to provide catering services to the Government and other institutions of the entity, if approved by the Government of Republika Srpska.
The Supervisor conveyed his position to the District authorities and the Government of Republika Srpska in two letters sent on 31 July and 22 September 2025. He recalled that the Final Arbitration Award provides that “neither entity, however, shall exercise any authority within the borders of the District, which shall administer the area as a single unitary government”.
This provision is further strengthened by the Statute of the Brcko District, whose Article 1 establishes the fundamental principle that entities within the District shall exercise only those functions and powers that are assigned to the entities by this Statute as written at the time of the entry into force of the Statute.
“The General Secretariat of the Government of Republika Srpska notified its intention to request approval from the District Government for the operation of the Catering Service of the Government of Republika Srpska on the territory of the District.
Since no provision of the Statute of the Brcko District authorizes the Government of Brcko District to issue such approval, the Supervisor called on the Government of Republika Srpska to reconsider its purchase, nevertheless, on 20 February 2026, the Catering Service of the Government of Republika Srpska officially requested the District Government to issue approval for the establishment of its branch office in the District,” the report states.
