(SARAJEVO) - German diplomat Christian Schwarz-Schilling ends his mandate as the top international envoy in Bosnia on Monday amid a serious impasse that threatens the country's bid to approach the European Union.

Schwarz-Schilling, who served 17 months as Bosnia's High Representative, will be remembered as among the most ineffective of the occupants of the office since the end of the country's 1992-1995 war.

Such criticism has been directed at the former German minister by both the international community and local observers, which blame him for passivity in efforts to put Bosnia on track for European integration.

"We are all disappointed with Schwarz-Schilling's performance. He was practically fired," a Western diplomat who requested anonymity told AFP.

In deciding to extend the mandate of its Bosnian envoy beyond a previously scheduled June deadline, the international community opted to bypass the 76-year-old Schwarz-Schilling and appoint Slovak diplomat Miroslav Lajcak to the position.

When Schwarz-Schilling took over the post in January 2006, the foreign powers had planned to do away with the office, hoping to hand the responsibility of over to local leaders.

But some Bosnian Muslim and Serb leaders, encouraged by Schwarz-Schilling's early hints that he would not use his far-reaching powers, reached a stalemate in negotiations on reforms.

Their resulting rows in which they used nationalist rhetoric, echoing that of pre-war Bosnia, has also caused concerns within the European Union.

Bosnia was last year within arm's reach of signing a stabilisation deal with the EU, seen as the first step towards eventual membership of the 27-nation bloc, but it has been delayed over stalled police reforms.

Schwarz-Schilling's idea not to sanction obstructive officials was a "positive one but, he failed to get engaged at all," said Senad Slatina, a Sarajevo-based political analyst.

Slatina pointed that Schwarz-Schilling could have pressed the leaders or mediated between them in order to push the reforms forward.

"He is definitely the worst High Representative so far. There is nothing but emptiness on his achievement list."

But, during his farewell press conference earlier this week, Schwarz-Schilling dismissed criticism and defended his policy of non-interference.

"I believe it has been the right policy and remains the right policy for the future," said the German.

Instead, he pointed out that for almost six months of his tenure he had no one to speak to because "irresponsible" leaders failed to form a ruling coalition after October elections.

Schwarz-Schilling had served as a mediator in Bosnia for nearly a decade before becoming envoy.

A German post and telecoms minister from 1982 to 1992, he fought against the expulsion of Bosnian refugees from Germany and backed aid agencies trying to protect women in the conflict.

He resigned from the government of then chancellor Helmut Kohl in 1992 in disgust at its failure to intervene in the unfolding drama in the then Yugoslavia.

But once he became envoy, his style deeply contrasted with his predecessor, Paddy Ashdown of Britain, who fired several dozen obstructive officials in order to push through reforms.

Media in mainly Muslim Sarajevo mocked his apparent lack of energy, labelling him "The Sleepy Representative."

On the other hand, Serbs who were the main target of Ashdown's intervention, seem to be the only community in Bosnia that considers Schwarz-Schilling's mandate successful.

"He promoted democracy in Bosnia and he truly trusted domestic institutions," said Mladen Ivanic, head of the Bosnian Serb Party of Democratic Progress, a junior partner in the ruling coalition.

Ivanic praised Schwarz-Schilling for being "opposite to his predecessors, especially to Paddy Ashdown who ruled the country as a colonial-style governor."

He gave local leaders an opportunity to agree on reforms but they failed, Ivanic told AFP.

Schwarz-Schilling was the fifth High Representative coming after the British diplomat Paddy Ashdown, Swede Carl Bildt, Carlos Westendorp of Spain and Austria's Wolfgang Petritsch.

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