The mission Schwartz-Schilling was given based on the Washington Agreement in 1994, when Bosnia's Croat-Muslim entity was established, expires later this year. At the end of his last mediating mission, he visited Sarajevo, Bijeljina, Donji Vakuf, and Gornji Vakuf, assessing that the situation is improving everywhere albeit at an unsatisfactory pace.
The German politician sees part of the problem in what he says is Bosnia's irrational and complicated state organisation. As an example, he mentioned unclear relations between and responsibilities of municipal and cantonal authorities in the Croat-Muslim entity.
Schwartz-Schilling will submit a final report on his 10-year mission in December, while his job will be taken over by the Bosnian Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees.
Asked if his report would contain recommendations for major constitutional changes, he answered in the negative but added that Bosnia's political structure must be changed.
An explicit request to that effect was first made earlier this week when a NATO Parliamentary Assembly delegation visited Bosnia, during a discussion on whether Bosnia could join NATO's Partnership for Peace programme and under what terms.
"The NATO delegation pointed to the problem of Bosnia's constitutional complexity. They find it hard to understand the numerous cantons, assemblies and ministers," Bosko Siljegovic, chairman of Bosnia's parliamentary commission for defence and security, told reporters, adding that from NATO's point of view, Bosnia's authority system had evidently become a hurdle to the country's Euro-Atlantic integration.
Siljegovic, an MP from the Serb Democratic Party, said there was no agreement in Bosnia as to the extent and number of constitutional changes that should be carried out, which he added indicated that this would be no easy task in the future either.
The main obstacle remains the Bosnian Serbs' refusal to consent to any change that would question the existence of the Bosnian Serb entity. They say the only acceptable model might be a union of three national republics within Bosnia-Herzegovina.