Mr President, I would like to start by adding my thanks and congratulations to the rapporteur. I strongly support his aim of getting this regulation brought into force as quickly as possible with no third reading. The rapporteur has been very generous in his interpretation of the Council's inexplicable 8-month delay in responding to Parliament's six amendments during the first reading. If there were any evidence that the Council was deliberately holding back this regulation to give it greater leverage during the negotiations of the broader trade and development cooperation agreement, that indeed would be extremely worrying. To come to the substance of the issue, on the budget it is completely unacceptable that the EU should be offering a budget cut in comparison to former years, particularly at this moment in our relationship with South Africa. There is a very real risk of this triggering an even greater loss of faith by South Africa in the EU. Let us not forget that this follows hard on the heels of the protracted and frequently bitter negotiations of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement where the EU acted very dismally indeed. On numerous occasions, it was EU reluctance to improve access for South African agricultural goods which nearly blocked the whole deal and to follow this up with yet another dishonourable act would be extremely unfortunate. Perhaps there is an image abroad that South Africa is an increasingly developed country and does not really need these funds. Let us not forget that in spite of the great leaps forward that South Africa has taken, the life of many South Africans is still one of extreme poverty without work or land or a decent home. An estimated 42% of black South Africans are jobless as compared with just 4% of whites. A quarter of schools have no water within walking distance. Half of South African households are classed as poor. 65% of adult South Africans are illiterate and 10 million South Africans live in informal shacks or on land they neither own nor rent. Let us not forget either that the Commission and Council turned down the idea of a separate new financial instrument to give support to neighbouring countries which need to adjust themselves to the new framework resulting from the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. I am not as reassured on this point as the rapporteur and I would have preferred to see a separate budget line which could have been seen and monitored more easily. It is quite clear that substantial funds are going to be needed to ease these countries' transition. The loss of customs duty alone is extremely high in some cases. In Swaziland for example, this accounts for up to 40% of all government revenue. In spite of its own challenges, South Africa is already demonstrating its commitment to support its neighbours in the region. For example, in its agreement to a highly asymmetrical liberalisation agreement with the other SADC countries which will benefit those countries. The European Union needs the same generosity of spirit. It should honour its initial financial pledges to South Africa and provide significant support to the neighbouring countries during their transition period.

Political group: Verts-ALE