The European Union is plotting to lure the UK into a continent-wide trade accord, trade chief Maros Sefcovic has suggested.
With Sir Keir Starmer’s Government making no secret of its push for closer ties with Brussels, the bloc’s former post-Brexit negotiator told the BBC that the UK joining the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention (PEM) was “something we could consider”.
The PEM enables tariff-free trade across Europe and parts of North Africa and the Levant.
Business groups have backed the UK joining PEM, saying it could streamline supply chains.
However, the previous Conservative Government rejected it during Brexit trade talks.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr Sefcovic said the proposal was not “precisely formulated”, leaving the “ball in the UK’s court”.
The UK Government is consulting businesses on PEM’s potential to cut red tape and boost trade, according to the BBC.
Mr Sefcovic also expressed interest in revisiting a veterinary deal for food and agricultural products. Such an agreement would require “dynamic alignment” with EU rules, a point of contention for Brexit supporters.
Mr Sefcovic also said that a full-scale veterinary agreement aimed at reducing frictions on farm and food trade should “reviewed”.
Single market treatment for UK food and farm exports would mean “we would have to have the same rules and we have to upgrade them at the same time, we call it dynamic alignment,” he said..
The EU-UK fisheries deal is set to expire next year.
Mr Sefcovic said: “A solution for fisheries is very important for the EU, again, we communicated this on multiple occasions.”
He also claimed the European Commission’s offer on youth exchanges had been “spun”, insisting: “It’s not freedom of movement.
“It’s a bridge-building proposal. We do not want to look like the demanders here, because we believe this is good for the UK.”
UK-EU relations were “definitely” improving, the trade commissioner emphasised.
He also stressed that he had his British counterpart, Nick Thomas-Symonds, “on speed dial”.
The shift aligns with Sir Keircalls for a “closer trading relationship” with the EU, which critics fear could undo Brexit.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has claimed this risks shackling Britain to Brussels once again, labelling it a “betrayal of Leave voters”.
