Speeches

Today not intended to mark an endpoint, but rather a point of transition for the unification process in Mostar. MIU is closing down after nearly 2 years. But its closure does not mean IC disengagement; it does not mean that the OHR will no longer continue to support and monitor the unification process. Most of the MIU expertise will be handed ove [...]

I see many familiar faces around the room – some of them have become particularly familiar in recent weeks, as our paths have crisscrossed in the course of a remarkable series of conferences – in different cities, and indeed on different continents – devoted to the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

If you want to compete, you have to go to the ball game -- and if you do go to the ball game, I think we all agree you should play to win. Bosnia and Herzegovina isn’t competing effectively yet – none here will argue with that. And since there is a talented pool of businesspeople, educators, engineers, artisans and others in this country who are r [...]

As the ranking member of the Working Group, I would like to extend my warmest greetings to you all, especially to the representatives of the families of missing persons.Today’s session coincides with the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords. This is an appropriate time to pause and reflect on the results that have been achiev [...]

It is no coincidence that the tenth anniversary of Dayton has been marked by a flurry of constitutional initiatives. This is not, as some of the recent media stories would have us believe, some grand new idea. For the last ten years, the evolution of the Constitution enshrined in Dayton has been a reality of political life in BiH.

The State and Entity auditors have started to make waves. But these waves aren’t big enough yet. No matter how outrageous the findings – theft, incompetence, mismanagement – the popular indignation that now customarily follows the publication of audit reports appears to last only for a matter of days.

Since I took up my duties as the International Community’s High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina three and a half years ago I have often remarked publicly that the days when the future of BiH could be discussed and decided at an air-force base in Ohio have long since passed. Well, this is certainly the right time and the right place to mak [...]

Seven months ago, when I last spoke to the Council, I said that the following period would be decisive. Would the political leadership of BiH seize the opportunity to show that the country has become a viable State, irreversibly on course to European and Euro-Atlantic integration? And as predicted, decisive it was. You have before you our detail [...]

Today’s conference can be an invaluable interface between wealth creators and legislators. It offers an important opportunity to change opinions, practices and attitudes which – in many cases – desperately need to be changed. Over the course of today’s discussions I hope this opportunity will not be missed.

A decade after the end of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina it is time to ask whether the Dayton process has now served its purpose and can be upgraded to something better suited to the new challenges of European integration. And the simple answer to that question is “Yes” it is time