Maros Sefcovic, the official who led post-Brexit negotiations for the EU, told the BBC that the UK joining the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention is ‘something we could consider’
Downing Street has said that the UK could consider joining a pan-European pact to boost post-Brexit trade without crossing its own “red lines” on future EU relations.
Maros Sefcovic, the EU’s chief negotiator for post-Brexit talks, suggested on BBC that the UK’s participation in the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention (PEM) is “something we could consider”. The PEM facilitates duty-free commerce across Europe and some North African and Middle Eastern countries.
Despite Nick Thomas-Symonds, minister for UK-EU relations, stating there are no current plans to join, No 10 hasn’t dismissed future membership. The Prime Minister’s spokesperson declined to provide detailed commentary but clarified: “The arrangement that’s been discussed is not a customs union.
“Our red line has always been that we will never join a single market, freedom of movement, but we’re just not going to get ahead of those discussions.”
Joining the PEM has been supported by various business groups for sustaining intricate supply chains, yet the previous Tory government did not include it in their post-Brexit trade deal. Speaking to the BBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr Sefcovic remarked that the concept hadn’t been “precisely formulated” and that the “ball is in the UK’s court”.
The UK Government has begun consulting businesses on the benefits of PEM and how it could help cut red tape and improve trade, the BBC said. Mr Sefcovic also told the broadcaster he would like to see the possibility of a full-scale veterinary agreement between the EU and UK reviewed.
He noted that if UK food and agricultural products were to be treated as part of the single market, “we would have to have the same rules and we have to upgrade them at the same time – we call it dynamic alignment”.
Over in the Commons, Cabinet Office minister Mr Thomas-Symonds was pressed by the Conservatives to dismiss the notion of dynamic alignment, which could lead to the European Court’s influence over the UK, as pointed out by shadow Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart.
Burghart probed: “Will he rule out the ECJ (European Court of Justice) having jurisdiction over the UK in any regard in future? ” To this, Mr Thomas-Symonds replied, asserting the government’s stance: “We’ve set out our red lines in our manifesto, we’ve set out the examples of things we are seeking to negotiate. That is already there.”
He also informed MPs that joining PEM wasn’t on the current agenda and declined to provide ongoing commentary on every statement made.
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey slammed the dismissal of the PEM proposal as an “act of economic negligence”. Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel has slammed Labour for what she calls a “disgraceful” act of “bending the knee to the EU”.
A staunch Brexiteer, Dame Priti expressed deep concern over reports suggesting the Government might tie the UK closely to the European Union, stating: “These latest reports that the Government might shackle us to the European Union are deeply concerning, and once again make clear that Keir Starmer and his chums are all too happy to put their ideology ahead of our national interest, no matter the cost.”
