The EU could consider the UK joining a continent-wide trade agreement, as Sir Keir Starmer’s government seeks a reset with the bloc, a European trade chief has indicated.
Maros Sefcovic, who led post-Brexit negotiations for the EU, told the BBC the UK joining the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention (PEM) is “something we could consider”.
The PEM allows for tariff-free trade of goods across Europe, as well as some North African and Levantine nations.
‘The ball’s in the UK’s court’
Some business groups have backed the UK joining PEM as it would help to maintain complex supply chains, but the previous Tory government chose not to pursue it as part of a post-Brexit trade agreement.
Speaking to the BBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr Sefcovic said the idea had not yet been “precisely formulated” and that the “ball is in the UK’s court”.
The government has begun consulting with businesses on the benefits of the PEM plan and how it could help cut red tape and improve trade, the BBC said.
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