27/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - CFSP High Representative Javier Solana expressed in a declaration made on Monday his sadness at the sudden death (by heart attack at the age of 56) of Sven Fredriksen, Danish Head of the European Union's police mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sven Frederiksen, noted Mr Solana in his declaration, "commanded the first European Security and Defence (ESDP) Policy operation initiated by the European Union. He planned and set up the mission and led it from its very beginning on 1 January 2003". Mr Fredriksen was highly respected by the region's political leaders and his colleagues in the local police force, stressed Mr Solana, who deplored "the loss of an outstanding collaborator and a friend", and concluded that "his biography is proof of his engagement and commitment to the stabilisation of the Balkans" (Mr Fredriksen also served in Croatia, Albania and Kosovo).