The economic partnership agreement (EPA) between the EU and six countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) – Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland, (the SADC EPA group) – has come into effect, the European Commission announced on Monday 10 October. On that same day, the Council of the EU ratified, without debate, the agreement on gradual, asymmetrical trade liberalisation, compatible with WTO rules. It breaks with the unilateral...