Danish diplomat takes over as special EU envoy to Bosnia

(SARAJEVO) - Danish diplomat Peter Sorensen took over as special EU representative to Bosnia on Thursday, tasked with helping the country settle a deep political crisis hampering its path towards EU integration.

"Sorensen's mandate as the European Union special representative to Bosnia starts today," Zora Stanic, the spokeswoman for EU delegation to Sarajevo, told AFP.

The Danish diplomat, who is due in Sarajevo on Sunday, was appointed to the post in May by EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton and succeeds Austrian diplomat Valentin Inzko, who is also the top international envoy to the Balkan country.

Sorensen will also head the EU delegation in Sarajevo, a post vacant since July 2010.

He will arrive in Bosnia as the country faces its most serious political crisis since the end of the 1992-1995 war, having failed to form a government almost a year after general elections.

Since 1995, Sorensen has held various posts in international and European organisations in the former Yugoslavia.

From 1996 to 1997 he was a legal advisor to the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in Bosnia, the international community's representative office in the country.