The former ambassador of Albania to the UN, Agim Nesho, strongly criticizes Prime Minister Edi Rama regarding the idea of an international conference on Kosovo, saying that it is very dangerous as it gives the Serbs the opportunity to discuss historical issues already closed in 1999 and 2008. In an interview for KosovaPress, Nesho says that Rama should not have even proposed a draft for the Association, while also commenting on the punitive measures against Kosovo imposed by the European Union.

Since May 26, the situation in the northern municipalities of the Republic has been tense, while during this time we have seen a very active role of the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, in solving this situation. First, he proposed a draft statute for the Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities and then proposed calling the leaders in a conference until the situation is resolved.

Nesho, who served at the UN in the years when the historical changes were taking place in Kosovo 1997-2006, says that Rama "does not have the intellectual ability" to be involved in such projects and that with these ideas he is not serving the national interest.

The Albanian ambassador says that the Association is simply another tool of the Serbian president Aleksandër Vucic to maintain an artificial conflict in the north of Kosovo.

"The issue of the Association project has no value, Rama himself does not have any intellectual ability to design or be engaged in the field of international relations and law... The issue of the association project presented by Rama, it is simply giving oxygen to Vucic, who wants to realize his projects, but not to solve the issue of normalizing relations with Kosovo, nor to become part of the West. Vucic's project, I have insisted several times, is a different project. His connections, historical connections but also current, the great influence of Russian nationalization within the territory of Serbia has projected Serbia as a satellite country and no regime in Serbia can change this situation so easily... The issue of the Association is the nail that Vucic is looking for to destabilize and maintain an artificial conflict in the north of Kosovo, because this conflict should not even exist in the theses of international law, because it is not such a conflict", declared Nesho for KosovaPress.

The other idea of Prime Minister Edi Rama for an international conference for Kosovo and Serbia is unacceptable for Ambassador Nesho. According to him, these are ideas that only serve Serbian-Russian projects for new geopolitical changes in the Balkans.

“The issue of the conference was also not due to ignorance or a way to express something original, which the Albanian prime minister has always done. This was something premeditated in order to realize those projects that the Serbs necessarily seek to realize, and the main one, which both Serbia and Russia seek in the Balkans, are the new geopolitical changes in the Balkans... The last project and Rama's statement to holding a conference is too dangerous to give Serbs the opportunity to re-discuss historical issues that have already been closed", Nesho emphasizes.

Nesho declares for KosovaPress that Serbian President Vucic wants to keep the situation under tension in the north indefinitely in the hope that one day the issue of Russia will return and the geopolitical changes he dreams of will be made.

"Serbia is provoking in the north of Kosovo. It would be in her desire that this provocation was not closed. With the hope that one day the issue of Russia will return and he (Vucic) thinks that by becoming allies on the one hand with Russia and China, maintaining these balances, but also staying in the chair that the EU gives him, he will play a game. Vucic's game is a game of small levels of Tito's philosophy. He will keep Serbia with a non-aligned country, he wants to take from the frivolity of the Albanians, he wants to make a bloc, telling them that with the creation of a neutral and non-aligned bloc in the Balkans, we will be the center of attention and will to play big politics", declares Nesho for KosovaPress.

Nesho also talks about the EU's punitive measures against Kosovo, saying that they are illogical but Europe is "choosing the easiest way".

He says that the West is not used to being told no, and Albanians have often been funny.

"Who is arming themselves 110 percent with weapons, equal with all the countries of the Western Balkans? Is it endangered by the freedom-loving people of Kosovo, who have always been oppressed there, or by the Albanians or by other NATO countries? This is nonsense that Europe itself understands. Yet her wish in many cases imposes such illogical sanctions, because it is easier in two directions. We are sympathetic to the West and in many cases we become ridiculous by accepting the issues they raise and here we have an element for the first time, Osmani and Kurti, who have given their chests and do not accept such pressures and for the national issue it is more than surely you have to take such positions and you cannot compromise on the national issue", he declares.

The Albanian ambassador declares that it is unimaginable that Kosovo will go against its interests after every request from the internationals. According to him, Albanians must be unique in order to show the world that the provocations come from Serbia.

"You cannot appreciate infinitely that we are your partners, we have helped you create and you become a tool at any moment even against your interests. This is unimaginable even in this sense, I think that the aggravating element that we have to work with, especially with internationals, is the issue of provocations coming from Serbia", he adds further.

Nesho emphasizes that the leaders of Kosovo have proven that they are loyal to the principles, but they should not insist indefinitely. According to him, Kurti can be more flexible in some requests, such as that the mayors of the Municipalities do not go to the facilities of the Municipal Assemblies.

"We must resist, what scares the West is unity and reaction, public opinion in Kosovo and Albania. Despite the fact that even diplomacy should be exercised by the governing institutions of Kosovo, that in many cases we should be more flexible. Despite the fact that the Government of Kosovo has won the war both in the Albanian public opinion and in the international opinion, which stands on principles and values, which stands for the protection of its sovereignty. But, many other things can also be exceeded, there is no need to persistently go to infinity... To be more tolerant, to cooperate and make concessions when they are not important, e.g. many things not to stay in the building, not to do it, the main point was decided, the north of Kosovo cannot be the property of gangs and criminals both of Vucic and of other people who seek to get rich by creating certain areas of instability within in Kosovo", declares Nesho.

Recently, a part of the public opinion in Kosovo as well as some MEPs in the European Parliament have addressed criticism to the special representative of the European Union for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, for being one-sided while siding with Serbia.

Nesho, using a diplomatic language, says that the criticism of the MEPs "shows that something is wrong", but he says that the fact that some European countries trust the former minister of Milosevic, Aleksandër Vucic, is more worrying.

"While this issue is sensitizing honest people, diplomats and politicians in the European Parliament, it shows that something is wrong. We already knew that Lajcak in his activity was a man who served as in Moscow and was equally removed from the interests of the West and the East, but we thought that this would be exactly a compromise. Here the issues have changed for a reason, because at this moment of crisis, the West does not have time to deal with the Balkans, it does not have time to insert them to the end as it does, because it has the front of Russia, Ukraine, the front of the Baltic countries, the interests of the North Sea are overcomplicated by the additional and unimagined actions that Russia may take in the face of the failure it is learning in Ukraine. We do not only suffer from the negotiators, because this is in the attention of all European leaders, we suffer from the disease that some of them have to give an exaggerated role and an excessive trust they have in the nationalist Vucic, who has not changed a thing, only his suits and nothing else", says Nesho.

The tensions in the north of Kosovo started on May 26, when the elected mayors in Zubin Potok, Zveçan and Leposaviq went to the municipal facilities, assisted by the Kosovo Police. The situation escalated on May 29, when criminal groups attacked the Kosovo Police and KFOR soldiers, where about thirty of them were injured, while Albanian journalists and cameramen were continuously attacked.

The international community has addressed three requests to Prime Minister Kurti, related to the situation in the north: the escalation of the situation, the holding of new elections in the four northern municipalities and the return to the dialogue for the normalization of Kosovo-Serbia relations, mediated by the European Union. Meanwhile, Kurti presented five points for the situation in the north, where the focus according to him, should be the rule of law in the four northern municipalities.