Speeches

Thank you for giving me the opportunity today to present my third report as High Representative, since taking up my duties in July 2007. I hope, my update will give you a better understanding of the overall situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where we now stand, and what challenges we will be facing in the period ahead.

Let me first of all say how pleased I am to be taking part in this event, which brings together stakeholders from the Labour and Employment sector of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I will take this opportunity to thank the representatives of this sector coming from other countries in Europe and our colleagues from Brussels for their participation at this [...]

In his 2002 book, Bosnia after Dayton, your own Professor Sumantra Bose entitled his first chapter ‘An Important and Complex Place’. Both adjectives are as appropriate now as they were then or, I would go as far as to say, over the past two centuries.

First of all, thank you for inviting me to take part in this dialogue about whether there will be a new division of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I would like to address this question, but then go on to discuss a key motive behind such political threats, and then propose a reform that would contribute to eliminating this motive from this country’s polit [...]

Let me first of all congratulate all those who have contributed the Crans Montana Forum to take place here in Sarajevo today which offers yet another opportunity to discuss about challenges ahead in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In 1905 George Santayana wrote that: “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” Today we are gathered here not only to pay our respects to the families who are burying their loved ones, but also to remember the past in the hope we will never again have to repeat it. I say “we” because genocide is the worst crime against humanity [...]

It is my pleasure to address you few days after Bosnia and Herzegovina signed the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the European Union. Today the country is in a new relationship with the EU and the region. We can now begin to tackle a range of political issues – including the role of regional institutions – in an atmosphere that is opti [...]

Last October I provided you with a frank and sombre account of where we stood in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also of where we still aimed to go. Seven months later, I can today offer a more upbeat report on the country’s progress towards its ultimate destination: a self-sustaining peace based on viable statehood and Euro-Atlantic integration. Tha [...]

When I spoke to you some six months ago, we faced what many would describe as a political crisis. I am pleased to inform you today that the situation has noticeably improved. The country has taken a significant step towards stabilisation of the political situation. It is on the verge of signing a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU, [...]