SARAJEVO — The United States embassy in Sarajevo stated, "The United States takes note of the European failure to reach consensus around a European candidate and is disappointed these divisions prevented the PIC from fulfilling its task to elect a new High Representative. European indecisiveness, and the PIC's abdication of its own duty toward Bosnia and Herzegovina, is forcing the United States to reconsider our role in the current international presence in Bosnia and Herzegovina."
The U.S. had supported Italian diplomat Antonio Zanardi Landi for the position. Conversely, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany supported French envoy René Troccaz. The PIC convened in Sarajevo to oversee implementation of the 1995 Dayton peace agreement, which ended a conflict that resulted in 100,000 deaths.
The U.S. also proposed reducing the authority of the High Representative to enforce provisions of the Dayton agreement. Political analyst Jasmin Mujanović said, "It does not seem like the US had consulted particularly widely with its allies in terms of selecting Mr Landi." Mujanović added, "The Americans seemed to think it was sort of irrelevant what the Europeans thought and assumed they were going to fall in line, and I think that was a misreading of the moment."
U.S. officials previously pressured Christian Schmidt to resign from his position as High Representative. Schmidt had implemented penalties on Milorad Dodik, a political leader in the country, for actions that undermined the Dayton agreement. The U.S. lifted sanctions on Dodik last year.
The U.S. no longer maintains a large military presence in the country, and the European Union operates a peacekeeping force in the country. The Peace Implementation Council is scheduled to reconvene later this month to attempt to select a new High Representative.