Secretary of State Marco Rubio: U.S. Backs Italian Candidate as Next Bosnian High Representative

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday the U.S. backs Italian candidate Antonio Zanardi Landi as the next High Representative (HR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). 

Rubio backed Landi, a long-time diplomat, during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, and said he thinks Landi would bring “stability” to the position. 

“Well, as you know, the pre-existing high rep has resigned, and so there’s a new candidate that we will be supporting, he’s an Italian gentleman that we think would do a good job of helping provide some stability to that position,” Rubio said. 

The Peace Implementation Council (PIC) Steering Board is meeting Wednesday and Thursday in Sarajevo to about the new HR after German diplomat Christian Schmidt resigned from his post on May 11, European Western Balkans reported. Schmidt, who cited “personal reasons” for stepping down, had served in the role since 2021.

The Office of the High Representative was established under the Dayton Peace Agreement and is meant to oversee civilian related priorities related to the BiH peace settlement, per the report. The HR “serves as the final authority regarding the interpretation of the civilian aspects of the peace agreement, a mandate significantly expanded by the 1997 Peace Implementation Council (PIC) in Bonn, which granted the office the ‘Bonn Powers.”‘ Those powers allow the HR to impose legislation and remove public officials who violate the agreement or the peace process.

The U.S., UK, Germany, Italy France, Japan, Canada, Russia, and the EU are tasked with selecting and endorsing Schmidt’s successor, per the report. The person chosen is usually confirmed or supported by a UN Security Council resolution.

A U.S. State Department official told Breitbart News on Thursday that the U.S. acknowledges Schmidt’s “years of dedicated in BiH as the second longest serving HR since the position was created and the work done to establish institutions for a sovereign Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

“We look forward to the selection of a successor High Representative at the June 3-4 Peace Implementation Council (PIC) meeting, without any destabilizing delays. We expect the new High Representative to take office by the end of June,” the official continued. 

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.