EditU.S. diplomat Louis Krishok named ‘acting’ High Representative in Bosnia as PIC deadlock persists
Interim appointment follows failed U.S.-EU compromise on Schmidt successor amid tensions over state property and Southern Gas Project
The Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) in Bosnia and Herzegovina appointed on 30 June a U.S. diplomat, Louis Krishok, as the international community’s acting high representative in the country, after U.S. and European Union representatives failed to agree on a successor to Christian Schmidt.
The Americans insisted that the new high representative should be Italy’s Antonio Zanardi Landi, supported by his country, whereas France and Britain, backed by Germany, pushed for Schmidt to be succeeded by Rene Troccaz, the French government’s special envoy for the Western Balkans.
Krishok, a career diplomat with years of experience in the State Department, took office on 1 July. Since August 2024, he had served as Principal Deputy High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina and international supervisor for the Brcko District. Krishok’s appointment as acting high representative is a logical choice, given that he spent nearly two years as Schmidt’s closest associate and is familiar with the work of the Office of the High Representative (OHR).
Schmidt resigns amid U.S. pressure over Southern Gas Interconnection
Schmidt resigned as high representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina in early May, saying he had been exposed to “enormous and unexpected pressure from the United States.” According to local media reports, the key reason the Americans turned on Schmidt – even threatening him with sanctions – was his failure to resolve the issue of state property, which is crucial for the Southern Gas Interconnection project.
The chair of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Council of Ministers, Borjana Kristo, and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic signed an agreement between the two countries in late March on the construction of the Southern Interconnection gas pipeline. Construction on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been entrusted to a U.S. company whose executives are close to U.S. President Donald Trump.
The Southern Gas Interconnection is a project whose purpose is to build a gas pipeline connecting Bosnia with Croatia’s gas system and the LNG terminal on the island of Krk. Its aim is to ensure the diversification of supplies and the country’s long-term energy independence, which would also end the flow of Russian gas into the country.
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Most of the land in Bosnia – more precisely, in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina – through which the new pipeline is supposed to pass is classified as state property, an issue that has not been resolved since the end of the war in 1995. A former high representative, Paddy Ashdown, imposed a law in 2005 banning the use of state property until the issue is resolved through legislation in the state parliament. The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has handed down several rulings on that basis, effectively preventing the U.S. company from starting work on the project. The Americans made Schmidt pay the political price for delays in the project, whose value on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina is between €405 million and €810 million, forcing him to leave office.
No abolition of Bonn powers or earlier decisions
The PIC Steering Board failed to reach consensus on a new high representative at the meetings held on 4 June and 30 June. Instead, it appointed Krishok as a temporary solution, announcing that a new high representative would be appointed to a full term by 14 July. This was reaffirmed during a visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina by the EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, and later by the head of the EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Luigi Soreca. He described Krishok as a “temporary solution” and said the EU “does not expect it to become a permanent arrangement.” He noted that the Office of the High Representative “was not set up as a permanent category” either, and that things should move “toward its closure,” adding that the fastest way to achieve this was Bosnia’s accelerated progress on its path toward the Union.
BETA’s sources in diplomatic circles in Sarajevo said EU representatives feared that the Trump administration, under pressure from lobbyists paid by Milorad Dodik, the leader of the ruling coalition in Republika Srpska, would insist on abolishing the Bonn powers and annulling earlier decisions by the high representative. That would also mean annulling the final judgment of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina banning Dodik from holding public office for six years.
Dodik’s hopes that such a scenario might be possible were dashed after the 30 June session of the PIC Steering Board, when it was made clear that Krishok would “fully ensure the institutional continuity of the office and legal certainty with regard to all decisions taken by previous high representatives,” and that he would act “under the political guidance of the Peace Implementation Council.” This means that earlier decisions by high representatives remain in force, including amendments to the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina imposed by Schmidt, on the basis of which the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina handed Dodik a final conviction for failing to implement decisions by the high representative. The instrument of the Bonn powers also remains in force, giving the high representative a free hand to impose binding laws and decisions to overcome political blockades of institutions and accelerate the implementation of the Dayton peace accords.
According to BETA’s source in Sarajevo, the new high representative should be appointed by 14 July based on an agreement between French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. According to the same source, Macron and Meloni agreed at a 25 June meeting that an Italian would head the Office of the High Representative for the next two years, after which he would be succeeded by a Frenchman, who would also serve a two-year term. BETA’s source could not specify whether the next high representative would be Antonio Zanardi Landi, whose appointment the United States also insisted on, former Italian ambassador to the United Nations Maurizio Massari, or Italian diplomat Luigi Soreca, the current head of the EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In the meantime, a non-paper that Italy sent to its partners at the Council has been made public, setting out its vision for the future of the OHR. The document provides for a gradual downsizing of the Office, while listing the Bonn powers as the high representative’s “last resort” when all other options have been exhausted. It also says that the new high representative will not annul the decisions of his predecessors and that the duration of OHR’s mandate will continue to depend on fulfillment of the “5+2” agenda, which in practice means that the Office of the High Representative could remain in Bosnia and Herzegovina for years. The “5+2” agenda is a list of objectives and conditions that the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina must fulfill before the Office of the High Representative is closed, that is, before the country assumes full sovereignty. The program, defined by the PIC Steering Board back in 2008, consists of five key objectives and two conditions that Bosnia must meet. Among the objectives, the key issues are resolving the question of state property and fully implementing the arbitration award for the Brcko District, while one of the conditions specifies that OHR will not be closed until the Steering Board gives a positive assessment of the situation in the country, which includes full respect for the Dayton peace agreement.
BETA’s sources in ruling circles in the Bosnian Serb entity Republika Srpska said Dodik and his political fate were never the reason the United States insisted on Schmidt’s resignation and threatened to suspend funding for the Office and shut it down. According to those sources, the key reason was the matter of state property, whose rapid resolution Washington insisted on so that a company run by people close to Trump could start work on the Southern Interconnection project as soon as possible. The Americans are also interested in other projects, such as the extraction of valuable minerals and ores, which Bosnia and Herzegovina, and especially Republika Srpska, is rich in.
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It is certain that the U.S. will not change its strategy toward Bosnia and Herzegovina, which means full respect for the country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. This means that Dodik’s statements about a new geopolitical reality in the world, in which Republika Srpska has a chance to declare independence, accompanied by subservience toward the Trump administration, carry no weight. The U.S. administration confirmed its distance from Dodik’s policies and radical rhetoric with recent announcements that he might be exposed to sanctions again if he works to undermine the Dayton accords and the constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Along the same lines, Dodik was the only senior official from his party who did not receive an invitation to the U.S. Independence Day reception organized by the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo on 1 July.
The original article by EUalive’s partner BETA can be found here.
Caption: Members of the Italian, Romanian and Dutch contingent of the European Union Force (EUFOR) permanent Multinational Battalion prepare for the arrival of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas at their base in Butmir, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2 July 2026. EPA/ALMIR RAZIC
Updated: July 9, 2026 - 07:24
