Who is Lajčak's successor Peter Sorensen

Danish diplomat Peter Sorensen will most likely be appointed as the new special representative European Union (EU) for dialogue in the process of normalizing relations Belgrade and Pristina, and the ambassadors of the European Union will discuss this at the next meeting on Tuesday, January 21.

The head of European diplomacy, Kaja Callas, has already forwarded his name to EU member states, and all appointment procedures should be completed by the end of January, so that Sorensen can take office from February 1. The mandate of outgoing dialogue envoy Miroslav Lajčak expires on January 31.

All EU member states must agree on Sorensen's name.

Experience in the Balkans

Sorensen has more diplomatic experience in European structures than in his native Denmark.

From 2006 to 2010, he was the personal representative in Belgrade of the then high representative of the EU, and in Pristina, from 2002 to 2006, he served as the vice president of Pillar IV (Reconstruction and Economic Development) of UNMIK, while from 2001 to 2002 worked as a senior adviser to the UN special representative in Pristina.

In 2000, Sorensen was also a legal advisor to the special envoy of the UN Secretary General for the Balkans.

He also served as the head of the EU Delegation in Skopje and the EU Special Envoy and the head of the EU Delegation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

During the 1990s, he also worked as a political advisor and observer in the observation mission of the European Community in the former Yugoslavia, and then in the OSCE mission in Croatia.

He is currently employed at the European External Action Service.

Diplomatic sources from the EU state that Sorensen is expected to have the sole role of envoy for dialogue, while Lajcak, the outgoing EU special representative, dealt with "other issues of the region as well."