Brussels, 13/02/2009 (Agence Europe) - The unforeseen departure by EU Special Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina, Miroslav Lajcak, who took over the portfolio of Slovenia's foreign minister a few days ago, has placed the EU in an embarrassing position and has meant that it must find a new candidate for the post by 1 March. It has already been decided that the posts of a new EUSR and that of the high representative for the international community with executive powers in Bosnia-Herzegovina, both of which were held by Mr Lajcak at the same time, will be dealt with separately. The Peace Implementation Council (PIC), responsible among other things for approving this second function, is expected to meet at the end of the month of March or in early April during its spring session to decide whether the EUSR will also hold the mandate of the high representative (HR). On the EU side, the General Affairs External Relations Council (GAERC) on 23 February may endorse the appointment of Mr Lajcak's successor.
Mr Lajcak's departure is a precedent in the EU's diplomatic history and some diplomats are raising questions about the reasons for such a decision. One of the possible responses is quite simply that Mr Lajcak would not have been able to bear the pressure of such a mission. A number of legal problems have been raised. Mr Lajcak already holds the post of foreign minister for Slovenia and, in this capacity, will be part of the GAERC responsible for choosing his own successor, while maintaining the double EUSR and OHR mandate. He will keep these hats on until his own successor is designated by the two bodies concerned. His unforeseen departure overthrows the process that provided for simultaneous designation of the EUSR for Bosnia-Herzegovina and of the HR, the latter requiring the agreement of both PIC member states that do not belong to the EU, namely Russia and the United States. According to one of the spokespersons for the HR/EUSR Bureau, Brussels is carrying out an internal consultation exercise in parallel to consultation with the PIC, unable to bring its meeting forward due to the recent American elections. At the present time, Raffi Gregorian of the United States and currently Deputy Head of the HR Bureau is replacing Mr Lajcak.
The EUSR's departure could undermine the EU's image in Bosnia-Herzegovina at a time when the presence of the special representative (including his executive powers) and that of the EU are beginning to be questioned by the Bosnian authorities. To this must also be added the problem of the EU's military presence (France and Finland have already begun to withdraw their contingents from the EU-led Operation Althea), whose future should be decided during the second meeting of the PIC in June. European sources say there is no-one among the candidates currently put forward by EU member states who enjoys sufficient notoriety to bring the transition process in Bosnia-Herzegovina to a successful conclusion. Police reform is still not complete, work on the new Constitution has still some way to go, and reform in Bosnia-Herzegovina remains at a standstill. In one of his latest speeches on 4 February before the Bosnian parliamentarians, Mr Lajcak commented that, during the previous year the Bosnian parliament only passed seven laws relating to commitments towards the EU. “This year will be important for determining whether Bosnia-Herzegovina remains on the road to European integration or whether it will be taken off the list of states in the region that want to come closer to the EU”, Mr Lajcak said. He placed emphasis on speeding up reforms, especially on adoption by the Assembly of the strategy for setting up Annex 7 on the return of displaced persons and refugees and the taking into account of EU recommendations during examination of the vote on the civil service law.
During its meeting in February 2008, the PIC defined five conditions for completing the transition of Bosnia-Herzegovina which would end with the closure of the HR Bureau: - resolve intellectual property issues between the Federal State and the Federated Entities; - find a solution to the question of ownership of military goods; - finalise the status of the village of Brcko; - and ensure the State's financial stability in addition to guaranteeing rule of law. There are also two other conditions: - positive assessment of the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina in relation to the provisions of the Dayton Agreement, on one hand, and signing of the stabilisation and association agreement (SAA), on the other (the latter having been signed last year). (A.By./transl.jl)