Several news websites report that the United States Ambassador in Pristina, Greg Delawie, visited the main bridge in Mitrovica on Thursday. “Glad to see the Mitrovica Bridge renovated and open for pedestrians. Positive result of the EU dialogue,” Delawie wrote on his Twitter account.

Mitrovica South Mayor Agim Bahtiri told BIRN that due partly to increased political tensions in the northern part of Kosovo, the reopening of the bridge that links the Albanian and the Serb-inhabited parts of the divided city of Mitrovica has been postponed to May. “Problems that arose from the construction of the wall have resulted in the delay. We expect the bridge to be opened in the first ten days of May,” Bahtiri said. Kosovo’s Minister for Dialogue, Edita Tahiri, said the process of reopening the bridge for pedestrians and vehicles is in its final phase.

Slovak Foreign Minister, Miroslav Lajcak, said on Monday that the European Union is not being serious when it comes to discussing enlargement, that it has given up on the Western Balkans and that as a result two Balkans countries are facing dissolution and another three countries are in deep political crises. Although Lajcak did not specify the names of the countries, media are suggesting that the first two countries facing dissolution are Kosovo and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

The European Union High Commissioner for Foreign Policy and Security, Frederica Mogherini said today that the situation in Western Balkans is tensed, and it requires a strong and reliable EU support.

She told the journalists on the verge of the meeting of the Foreign Policy and Defense Ministers that she would report to the Ministers about her visit to Western Balkans that “the situation there is facing challenges in the internal, regional and global plan.”

Europe’s foreign policy supremo, Federica Mogherini, is off on a mission even more difficult than getting Iran and the US to agree their nuclear deal, writes Denis MacShane.

Denis MacShane is the UK’s former Minister for Europe and the Balkans who visits the region regularly.

Mogherini is in the Western Balkans which still more than 20 years after the worst post-war mass murder of innocent citizens at Srebrenica remains Europe’s most problematic region.

Belgrade is interested in continuing the dialogue with Pristina, Director of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Đurić said Wednesday at a meeting with members of the EU Council Working Party on Enlargement and Countries Negotiating Accession to the EU (COELA), but he expressed concern over the fact that expert teams had not met in Brussels since November.

Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic says he is convinced that Serbia will remain firmly on the European path when he "leaves the government in a month, two, or three."

During his meeting in Belgrade with members of EU's Working Party on Enlargement (COELA) and representatives of the EU Council and the European Commission, Vucic said that Serbia's strategic goal is EU membership, while maintaining traditionally good relations with "friends from the East."

President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, said at the summit of European countries Foreign Affairs Parliamentary Committees taking place in Pristina that the EU often lacks vision and leadership and thus risks becoming a bureaucratic institution detached from its citizens. “One of those speaking strongly about Brussels lacking vision is me but there is no other alternative for us nor are we seeking a different one,” Thaci said.

President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, has travelled on a two-day visit to Brussels where he is scheduled to meet President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, and President of the European Commission, Jean Claude Juncker. In the meetings, Thaci is expected to urge the EU institutions to grant Kosovo visa liberalisation and step up Kosovo’s EU integration process, a press statement issued by Thaci’s office states.