A deepening rift between the US and Europe over the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina has become apparent after a dispute over a top international post, leading to a US threat to reconsider its role in international peacekeeping.
The US embassy in Sarajevo issued the warning after European states refused to back the US's preferred candidate to become the new high representative of the international community. At a meeting in Sarajevo this week of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) - a multinational group tasked with overseeing the implementation of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement - Washington backed Italian diplomat Antonio Zanardi Landi, while the UK, France, Germany and most European countries backed the French envoy for the Western Balkans, René Troccaz, the Guardian reported.
“The United States notes the Europeans’ failure to reach consensus on a European candidate and is disappointed that these divisions prevented the PIC from fulfilling its duty to select a new High Representative. European indecision and the PIC’s abdication of its responsibility to Bosnia and Herzegovina are forcing the United States to reconsider its role in the current international presence in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo wrote in a post on X.
The US no longer has a significant military presence in Bosnia, where a small European Union peacekeeping force is currently stationed. However, it has continued to play an influential role through the PIC and bilateral relations.
The PIC is expected to try again to reach consensus on the post of high representative at the end of this month, when compromise candidates may emerge.
A European official suggested the region could benefit if the US scaled back its role, amid growing suspicions about the Trump administration's motives. Last year, Washington lifted sanctions on Milorad Dodik, the Moscow-backed Serbian separatist leader, after a lobbying campaign in Washington reportedly costing millions of dollars.
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The US also pressured the outgoing High Representative, Christian Schmidt, to resign after he imposed punitive measures on Dodik for undermining the Dayton Agreement.
At the same time, Trump's relatives and associates have increased their business interests in Bosnia. This included a visit by the US president's son, Donald Trump Jr., to the main Bosnian Serb city, Banja Luka, in April as a guest of Dodik's son.
According to reports from the PIC meeting in Sarajevo on Wednesday and Thursday, the US promoted Landi's candidacy more zealously than Italy itself.
