In addition, the informality of the agreements has led to a further limitation of the Italian approach of the two. Indeed, the Italian government has been asked to justify the agreements in front of many international organizations. In March 2006, Italy suspended its return flights, probably due to increasing international pressure. The short-term benefits of reducing undocumented migrants have been exceeded by the cost of justifying ambiguous and controversial deportation policies. Simply put, the reputational costs [87] arising from the dubious nature of the agreements have become too high. This could explain the sudden change in policy within the Berlusconi government, confirmed by the following Prodi government. However, as I concluded, the implementation of Italy`s returns to Libya in 2009 could call this view into question. We had to look at the problem of people dying off the coast. . . . If one of our partners, and I do not mean that, for its own reasons, Libya is only prepared to conclude an agreement if its points remain secret for a period of time, I would prefer to have this agreement, even if it is informal, rather than nothing at all. This is particularly the case when this could help save lives and avoid unbalanced situations between countries of origin and destination countries.
[64] Statements by the Italian Minister of the Interior indicate that the two countries have informally agreed to repatriate from Italy to Libya and from Libya to other countries. On 17 September 2004, Mr. Pisanu welcomed the agreements with Libya for the successful repatriation of such a large number of foreigners,[60] and on 27 September 2004 he confirmed that Libya had already accepted the repatriation of 800 immigrants. [61] In addition, on 8 October 2004, the Italian Minister of the Interior told the Chamber of Deputies that Italy had taken divergent positions on the existence of readmission agreements with Libya. An Italian official in Tripoli said there were no readmission agreements between the two countries. On the other hand, a senior italian foreign ministry official, who participated in the negotiations on the joint communiqué and the 2000 agreement in 1998, claimed that an Italian-Libyan readmission agreement had been reached. In an interview, when I argued that the Italian parliament had never discussed formal agreements on this subject, he replied that oral agreements had legal value. [59] [30]. Statewatch, readmission agreement and EU external migration law, No. 17 (2003), www.statewatch.org/news/2003/may/12readmission.htm. On 2 February, Italy and Libya renewed their agreement on the management of migration in the central Mediterranean and extended for three years. Despite calls by human rights groups such as Médecins Sans Frontières and Amnesty International, and despite promises by Italian Foreign Minister Luigi di Maio to improve it “with particular attention to migrants` centres and conditions,” the agreement was renewed without change.
