The international community's High Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Valentin Inzko, confirmed on Friday that he should leave his post soon and that German politician Christian Schmidt was a candidate for his successor.

Personally, after having served for twelve years, I would welcome a change of High Representative, Inzko told the Austrian news agency APA.

The Austrian diplomat confirmed that Germany had proposed the Christian Social Union politician and former agriculture minister Christian Schmidt for the post of High Representative.

APA quoted the media in Sarajevo as saying that the German ambassador to Sarajevo had already discussed the matter with the Croat and Bosniak members of the country's collective state presidency, Zeljko Komsic and Sefik Dzaferovic respectively.

Inzko believes that crucial for Bosnia and Herzegovina's future is not the change of High Representative but “a paradigm change”.

What is required is a new, stable policy towards Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) along the Biden-Brussels-Berlin line, he said.

APA notes that the change at the Office of the High Representative (OHR) will be met with opposition from the Serb entity of Republika Srpska, which wants the institution to close down. The closure of the OHR is also supported by Russia, a member of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC), the international body overseeing the peace process in BiH.

Speaking recently on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Dayton peace agreement, which put an end to the war in the country, Inzko again called for stronger engagement of the international community in BiH.

Speculation that the Austrian diplomat, who has been the High Representative for more than ten years, could leave BiH appeared as part of initiatives that the international community step up its engagement in the country and intervene more forcefully so that necessary reforms are carried out, after which responsibility would be left to local politicians.

Such speculation is in line with the changes expected in the U.S. after Joe Biden steps into office as president as well as the fact that the period of refraining from interventionism has only caused new problems and stalemates in BiH which now are difficult to overcome.

Schmidt is the vice president of the Christian Social Union as well as a member of the Bundestag focusing on foreign issues.