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The Congress of South African Trade Unions regrets the signing of the Interim Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Union (EU) and Botswana, Mozambique, Lesotho, and Swaziland, who are members of both the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Southern African Customs Union (SACU).

COSATU condemns these countries for sacrificing regional integration and the future of African integration in return for short-term benefits by increasing their exports to the EU.

Subsequent to the signing off on the EPAs there has been media speculation about the possibility of SACU being dissolved, because of South Africa's possible withdrawal. This may be premature and unfortunate, as SACU is an established regional institution despite weaknesses and disagreements among its member states.

It will be celebrating 100 years in 2010 making it the oldest customs union in the world; because of this experience it should be left intact and provides an opportunity to unify and take SACU to higher levels.

The federation however shares the concern expressed by Trade and Industry Minister, Rob Davies, that this agreement could allow cheap European imports to enter South Africa through these countries. This might make it necessary for SA to put up border controls and demand rules of origin certificates in order to prevent this from happening. This would seriously undermine the basis of SACU. For that reason we welcome the EU's commitment to review the rules of origin provisions of the EPA.

The federation condemns the EU for disregarding regional integration objectives within SADC, to the detriment of jobs and industries in these countries. The EPA only serves to guarantee market access for the EU multinational companies to exploit raw materials in SADC, to open up, deregulate and privatise the services markets and gain market access to government procurement within SADC countries.

That is why COSATU supports the SA, Angolan and Namibian governments for standing firm against the bullying arm twisting tactics of the EU.

COSATU appreciates that countries within SADC are at different levels of development and their trade interests would often conflict. That makes it even more imperative that the SA government, through consultations and negotiations, unite SACU and SADC in order to ensure that regional economies are not destroyed by the economic crisis.

Notwithstanding the differences in the levels of development it is also imperative that countries should not overly rely on national sovereignty issues to block regional integration efforts. Consequently the dispute on EPAs, if not properly handled, might complicate and prolong regional integration efforts within SACU and SADC.

COSATU urges SA, Angolan and Namibian governments to continue to negotiate their concerns on the EPA within SACU and SADC and with the EU to align tariffs under the SA's Trade Agreement with the EU (TDCA) with tariffs under the EU-SADC EPA and to remove objectionable issues from the EPA agreement.

COSATU demands that:

• Resolution of outstanding matters within SACU, such as the harmonisation of agricultural, industrial and trade policies and establishment of institutions, e.g. the Tariff Board, should be accelerated,
• Amendment of the revenue sharing formula that determines a share of each member from the common revenue pool should, through consultations and consensus, be expedited to provide among others that money from the common revenue pool should only be used for developmental purposes such as building of road and clinics. SACU should avoid a situation where countries use money from the common revenue pool to engage in extravagant activities such as the purchase of luxurious cars by the Swazi government for the King's birthday.
• SACU should be used as a springboard to establish the new SADC Customs Union to expedite and enhance regional integration in this period of economic crisis and recession. Countries should only join the CU when they comply with a set of requirements including a common external tariff.
• Civil society, including Labour, within SADC countries should be included in the negotiations of a full EPA.
• The EU must stop its bullying tactics to coerce the SACU/SADC countries to conclude an agreement which is WTO plus in that it contains issues that are subject to a deadlock at WTO such as trade and investment and services.