Diplomats from the US and Europe have been unable to resolve their differences and agree on a new top international envoy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in a standoff which has become a transatlantic test of wills over influence in the Balkans.

A meeting in Sarajevo to select a new high representative, a post with far-reaching powers, ended without a compromise, in a spat that has undermined western cohesion in the region in the Trump era.

However, the US has so far not prevailed in its choice of Schmidt’s successor. Recently, American officials have been campaigning aggressively for a 76-year-old Italian diplomat, Antonio Zanardi Landi, to replace him, much to the bewilderment of most other PIC steering board members.

Landi has no significant previous experience or apparent knowledge of Bosnia. He was once posted in Serbia, but he has not shown much interest in its southern neighbour until now.