OHR related Articles

I recently heard about a German investor who wanted to spend several million marks developing an agro-industrial project in Bosnia and Herzegovina that would have employed hundreds of people. When he began to take the project forward, however, he discovered that he would have to bribe a long list of intermediate officials to get necessary approval. [...]

If you want Bosnia and Herzegovina to change for the better, then exercise your democratic right on polling day. Only the citizens who vote – not the ones who stay at home – will decide who governs for the next four years.

This debate is long overdue – because putting Bosnia and Herzegovina back on the road to prosperity and EU integration is the number-one issue of the election campaign, and the only way to turn the economy around is to unblock reforms that must be implemented by the state authorities.

In conversation with Radio Free Europe, High Representative Valentin Inzko spoke about the need to extend the mandate of foreign judges and prosecutors in our country, and about the possibility of reaching agreement with the European Union on a visa-free regime, and about the role of the international community.

In the coming weeks, teams of OHR lawyers will be compiling an inventory of state property. This is a long overdue step that can and should be carried out on schedule in advance of the next meeting of the Peace Implementation Council.

From the perspective of Bosnia and Herzegovina, our priority is that the US, along with its international partners, remains fully engaged in supporting the countries of the Western Balkans as they move towards full integration in the EU.

Mid-way through my one-year mandate I want to report the progress that has been made – by state, entity and municipal officials and international organizations working constructively together – to improve living conditions in the Srebrenica area.

On Monday, I will complete my term as High Representative and EU Special Representative. As I prepare to hand over to my successor, I feel satisfied that I have been able to embark on a path that I believe will benefit this country in the longer term, but regret that it was not possible to make as much progress as I had hoped.

In the past ten days, I have been meeting separately with individual party leaders together with the US Ambassador, the Head of the European Commission’s Delegation and the German Ambassador representing the EU Presidency to discuss the greatest and probably most important political challenge that this country faces: reforming the constitution.