The newly appointed European Union Ambassador to BiH, Luigi Soreca, handed over his credentials to the BiH Presidency Chair, Denis Becirovic, thus officially beginning his mandate in the country.

My work representing the European Union in Bosnia and Herzegovina and working with BiH's people and authorities for BiH's EU accession officially starts now.

During the ceremony, Ambassador Soreca underlined, “I consider it a great privilege to be working in the next years with Bosnia and Herzegovina’s people and authorities to bring the country closer to EU membership. Achieving substantial progress on the EU path is the most important shared strategic objective for Bosnia and Herzegovina and it is in the interests of both Bosnia and Herzegovina and the EU. The current geopolitical context makes EU enlargement a priority. The path to EU membership is ahead of us and we urge the country’s authorities to use this historic opportunity to work continuously and constructively to adopt reforms and align with the EU’s legislation, standards and values”.

Ambassador Soreca started his career in Italy in the Ministry of the Interior, with a focus on the fight against serious organised crime. He joined the European Commission in 1998, and has worked on topics connected with Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Western Balkans for many years. From 2007 to 2013 he was responsible for the international dimension of migration in DG HOME of the European Commission, during which time he coordinated the launch and implementation of the Visa Liberalisation Dialogues with countries in the Western Balkans, including Bosnia and Herzegovina. Between 2018 – 2022, he served as the EU’s Ambassador to Albania, after which he was appointed as the EU Special Envoy for External Dimension of Migration, working at the European External Action Service in Brussels, until starting his mandate as Head of the EU Delegation and EU Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Earlier in the week he met with his team at the EU Delegation, expressing satisfaction with his upcoming work on Bosnia’s EU integration path.

Soreca replaced the Austrian Diplomat Johann Sattler as head of the EU Delegation to BiH