Speeches

Admiral, Generals, ladies and gentlemen, It is a pleasure to be standing here today. And it was a privilege to review this guard of honour.

A few days after I became High Representative and EU Special Representative I sat down with BiH businesspeople at a roundtable in Travnik and we had a long discussion about what they believed should be done in order to fix the business environment in this country. They were quite clear about one of the main problems – too much bureaucracy and unnec [...]

Mr Speaker, Parliamentarians, Drago me je da sam danas ovdje sa vama – ali zao me je sto je ovo moj zadnji govor vama. When I addressed this chamber last year, I set out an agenda that focused on the challenges of transition that lay ahead of you:

I am particularly pleased to have an opportunity to address this conference because there is a strong presence this morning of politicians as well as economists. The fact of the matter is that economic issues are Cinderella issues as far as mainstream political debate in Bosnia and Herzegovina is concerned, and this is debilitating. If we make all [...]

I know that it’s an abominable cliché to talk about young people being the future – but, as a matter of fact, it is very true. And it’s also true that your future will be utterly unlike your parents’ past. When you graduate you will take your place in a society that is dramatically different from the one that existed even a decade ago and differen [...]

It is a both a pleasure and a privilege for me to speak to you this morning. It is a pleasure because you have provided me with an opportunity to discuss some of my long-held and deeply felt ideas about the crucial importance of education to the success of the great European project in which we are all engaged.

I first spoke to you a year ago as Bosnia and Herzegovina was facing the challenges of transition – transition by the Bosnia and Herzegovina’s authorities towards ownership; towards exercising the rights and responsibilities of a democracy; and towards becoming a fully functioning European State.

I am particularly pleased to be here at a gathering that brings together senior policymakers and key foreign investors. All of us are engaged in the same undertaking – and that is to inject the oxygen of capital and expertise into the BiH economy, and the overriding objective of this is to create jobs and raise living standards.

Thank you very much for offering me the opportunity to speak at this conference, the aims of which I consider to be as relevant as they are important. As Senior Deputy High Representative, one of my core responsibilities is to do all I can to promote the strengthening of civil society in Bosnia and Herzegovina, particularly by assisting civil socie [...]

I am very pleased to be back in Drvar today. I first visited this municipality a decade ago, in what were very different circumstances. This is therefore an emotional return for me and I thank each and every one of you for coming here today. I am particularly pleased to have the opportunity to speak at the Municipal Assembly. When I first visited t [...]