High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina

There's one half that's controlled by the Muslims and the Croats, the other half that, that's controlled by the Serbs.

They m- mainly handle their own affairs, but they're all overseen by this figure that's called the High Representative.

He's appointed by a European-led council.

He can veto legislation by any of the elected re- representatives.

Yeah

... uh, the thing, the difference there is that we still have the office of the high representative, even if it's unstaffed completely right now.

But who would be this savior figure for Kosovo that, who might unblock the political process? Does Albin Kurti see himself as the savior figure?

I wouldn't necessarily agree on this because, uh, for most of the time in the past two years, Kurti has been one of the actors blocking the, uh, formation of institutions in Kosovo.

By the end of 1997, the country's political representatives had failed to reach an agreement.

And that's when the office of the high representative became involved.

The high representative at the time was the Spanish diplomat Carlos Westendorp.

Now, there's a little correction worth making here because you'll sometimes hear it said that Westendorp designed Bosnia's flag.

He didn't.

The opening ceremony was just days away.

So on the 4th of February 1998, Carlos Westendorp made the decision.

Using the authority of the office of the High Representative, he selected the triangle and stars design and imposed a new flag.