Government officials accuse some politicians in the Valley of inciting Belgrade to block funds

The blocking of the Kosovo Government's fund for farmers in the municipalities of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac has become a reason for clashes and accusations between politicians there and those who are currently part of the Kosovo Government. Kosovo Government officials accused leaders of the Alternative for Change of collaborating with Serbian authorities in blocking funds for the Valley.

Kosovo government officials have accused the political representatives of Presheva, Medvedja and Bujanovac of collaborating with Serbian authorities in blocking funds allocated to them. The reason is the blocking of the distribution of funds to farmers in the Valley through the Albanian National Council. 

In a letter sent to the Serbian ministry, the Movement for Change asked last year whether the Albanian National Council had taken actions outside their powers provided for by law, in allocating funds from Kosovo. 

"Given that the National Council of Albanians operates within your Ministry, and the distribution of subsidies does not fall within their scope or competences, I address you as the competent Minister with the question: Are you aware of this and have you given the National Council of Albanians consent to the distribution of subsidies to farmers, when we know that the areas of the NSA are - education, culture, information and the use of language and writing?", the PNV letter reads. 

In response to the letter, on January 27, 2025, the relevant ministry makes a decision to cancel this competition. 

Following the decision, the Albanian National Council filed an appeal with the Administrative Court, which was rejected, considering the Council to be an incompetent party to raise the issue. 

also Arberi April 30, 2026 The government notifies the EU of the blocking of its funds dedicated to the Presevo Valley

Ragmi Mustafi, advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo, Besnik Bislimi, has blamed the representatives of the Alternative for Change, Visar Memeti and Arbër Pajaziti, for preventing the distribution of funds, for which he claims that the program defines support for the preservation of agricultural heritage. According to him, 100 farmers would benefit from this fund. Mustafi, who previously led the National Council of the Valley, added that this intervention by the Ministry is unconstitutional and directly violates the self-government of the minority guaranteed by the relevant laws. 

"The ban on the funds of the Republic of Kosovo in the Presheva Valley, namely for the program to support Albanian farmers and preserve agricultural heritage, is unprecedented. This is even the only decision of the Ministry of Human Rights, Minorities and Social Dialogue that directly interferes in the decision-making of a national minority council out of 24 in Serbia. This is also seen as tendentious, all the more so instigated by the APN party of Visar Memeti and Arbër Pajaziti, who unfortunately use the institutions of the Serbian state in political battles with Albanian parties," he said. 

This issue was raised by Deputy Prime Minister Bislimi at last week's meeting in Brussels. 

"Now that it has been raised as a topic within the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, it should receive an epilogue," Mustafi said. 

Visar Memeti responded to the accusations by providing the chronology of the case with the grant for farmers while accusing Mustafi of misusing funds. 

"On October 10, 2024, the former chairman of the KNSH, Nevzad Lutfiu, announced through a Facebook post that the RKS Government has allocated 1 million euros for the farmers of the Valley, where this fund will be distributed to the farmers of the Valley through the KNS. Meanwhile, on October 11, 2024, I reacted by raising concerns and suspicions about a misuse by the KNSH, like that of 2022, where nearly 2 million euros were misused by the KNSH, headed by Ragmi Mustafi, reminding them that the KNSH does not have agriculture as its field of activity, but education, culture, language use and information, and this jeopardizes the distribution of these funds to farmers," said the chairman of the PNV. "On October 26, 2024, at the meeting held at the KNSH regarding the opening of the public call by the KNSH, the advisors from our party once again expressed concern about this issue, and stated that such a thing is illegal, and the risk is that farmers will be left without funds, while the then chairman Nevzad Lutfiu has affirmed such a thing, that he is aware that it is contrary to the law, but we must act like this." 

He further explained why they decided to approach the ministry in Serbia regarding the Kosovo government grant. 

"After this, we as a subject have addressed the relevant Ministry, where we have requested clarification regarding the legality of this competition, being aware of the activities of the KNSH, and no complaint or request has ever been made for the cancellation of the competition as claimed by the Party for Democratic Action (PVD). Then the relevant Ministry has requested clarification from the KNSH, regarding this competition for agriculture, clarifying which areas the KNSH is competent for. Within this time, the competition has been completed, farmers have applied, the selection of farmers has been made, and on December 27, 2024, the Government of the Republic of Kosovo transfers the funds of 1 million euros to the KNSH account, while the relevant Ministry on January 27, 2025 makes a decision to cancel this competition," he stated. 

Memeti claims that the KNSH played politics with the farmers after having a month to transfer the funds to them, which it did not do. 

also Arberi 10 dhj 2024 Bislimi accuses Serbia of obstructing the Government's donation to farmers in the Valley

"This is very important - that is, the KNSH had a full month to make payments to farmers who were beneficiaries in this competition, but this has never happened, for the sole reason of playing politics with farmers and playing the victim. On the other hand, in just 1 days they have spent 3 thousand euros (these funds from the farmers' 80 million euros), where they have paid for the renovation of the KNSH building and many other expenses, but not the farmers," he said.

Ragmi Mustafi spoke about the circumstances that, according to him, made it impossible to distribute funds to farmers. 

"The first question for me is why they asked the Ministry to look into this matter? So, I see this as a political war, who want to use the state against the political opponents they have there. So, the Alternative for Change, in this case its leadership is using state mechanisms to hit the Albanian political opponents they have, otherwise why would they send him? What was their interest in sending him? Why are they against 100 farmers who should benefit from grants from the Republic of Kosovo?", he said. "Now, how it happened that they were unable to accommodate or distribute the funds within that month is because the mandate, which was divided in two by a political agreement between the PVD and the LPD, the chairman Nevzad Lutfiu, has completed his mandate. At the same time, the new chairman was appointed or elected, which is Enkel Rexhepi. This happened at the time when the funds were transferred. So, at the end of the year, and this is on December 27 when the funds reached the Council. In October, the competition was open, on December 31, the chairman of the Council was changed, then the holidays began in Serbia - from year three, Christmas and so on. Then the ministry canceled the decision to elect the chairman of the Council. The Council met again to elect the chairman and until the chairman was elected, then the Ministry made a decision that was the same. So on the same day that it canceled the decision, by which the chairman of the Council was elected "has canceled the decision by which the competition was opened. The Council now has a chairman, it is legitimate, and he has requested that these funds be distributed. However, it is in a political, respectively legal, war with the state to distribute these funds," said Mustafi.

Responding to accusations of misuse of funds during his time as head of the National Council, Mustafi says that they are unfounded. According to him, there were two criminal charges filed by the PVD for this case. In Serbia, according to Mustafi, it was closed because no evidence was found, while in Kosovo the case is being handled by the Special Prosecution. According to him, the beneficiaries of that call were also the founders of the PVD and their families, including Memet's wife. 

"One of those who benefited is the founder of the Alternative for Change, Shkëlzen Limani, who is not in that party, but was the founder of that party. His wife, the wife (of Memet vj) benefited through the projects they have implemented. I do not deny this. They have done good projects," said Mustafi. 

But Memeti denies that his wife benefited from making the list available, which does not include his wife's name. 

"There is a list of 78 beneficiaries as far as I remember, and my wife's name does not appear anywhere. This is nothing but slander by this abuser, he says this in every statement where he is asked about this issue. We raised this issue in 2022, for abuses by people close to Ardita Sinani, Ragmi Mustafi and Shaip Kamberi, where they benefited with over 50 thousand euros each, and that with facts, not guesswork. There are 78 beneficiaries, and we raised the issue for the people close to these three that I mentioned, it doesn't matter whether Shkelzen Limani or X or Y won, it was a public competition," he said.  

And the current former Chairman of the Albanian National Council, Nevzad Lutfiu, whom Memeti mentioned in the response sent to "Kohë", said that if the NKSH was not competent for this competition, why did it allow APN actors to compete in this competition. 

also Arberi 21 under 2024 Kamberi: Serbia is hindering the realization of the aid of the Government of Kosovo for the Albanians of the Valley

"Among the applicants is the chairman of the APN branch in Presheva, Veli Mustafa (the latter had shared his chairman's post), and some of the APN members who are members of the KKSH have also applied, for whom Visar Memeti states that they warned him about the illegal action he was taking. In fact, in the same session, the APN requested that the application evaluation commission have two members (one of the proposed members was Florent Shaipi, who had reacted by justifying his chairman). So on the one hand, they say that the KKSH is not competent, on the other hand, they are applying to benefit", he emphasized. 

According to Lutfi, the process was transparent and if those who are claiming have noticed any abuse, they should have reacted in support of real farmers and not sought Belgrade's support to block the process.