A senior EU official said the European Commission would be “open-minded” to discussing closer trade ties with the UK, including a customs union.
EU Economy Commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis, He told the BBC The European Union is “ready to engage with an open mind” when asked about the customs union.
Comments are coming in the background Pressure within the Labor Party to enter a customs union with the EUthe government tries to boost economic growth during a geopolitical crisis.
The customs union says Kiir Stormer is looking for deeper economic ties with the EU single market “Now we don’t mean well”.
A customs union with the EU calls into question the UK’s trade deals with countries such as India, Australia and Japan, which contribute little to economic growth but are powerful symbols of Brexit. In theory, within the customs union, the UK would be under the umbrella of the EU’s 40-plus trade agreements with around 70 countries and territories.
Starmer told reporters in recent days that “there are other areas of the single market where we have to see if we can’t make more progress”.
Speaking after talks with ministers including Rachel Reeves in London on Monday, Dombrovskis suggested the UK could not pick and choose areas of the single market for closer alignment.
He said membership of the single market was the most “mutually beneficial” arrangement, but it required the “four freedoms”, including freedom of movement.
Since the June 2016 Brexit referendum the EU has maintained that the four freedoms of the single market – goods, services, capital and movement – cannot be divided. Almost a decade later, EU insiders still believe it will be difficult for the UK to make special arrangements when member states have to sign up to all the procedures.
But openly the tone is warm. The president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, is expected to say later Tuesday that Europe and the UK “need a new way of working together on trade, customs, research, mobility and security and defence,” according to an advance copy of her speech seen by Politico.
Responding to Starmer’s comments, the Commission’s chief spokeswoman, Paula Pinho, said on Monday that the EU’s single market was “really one of the treasures of the EU, or if I put it in a British context, it’s really the jewel in the crown”.
She continued: “We very much appreciate that Prime Minister Starmer has recognized these benefits of the single market.” She said the EU-UK summit – which does not yet have a set date – “is an opportunity for the UK to discuss exactly what is on their mind”.
Negotiations are underway between the EU and the UK on a veterinary agreement, a youth exchange program and linking emissions trading systems.
Writing in the Financial Timesthe Cabinet Office minister, Nick Thomas-Symonds, said a “resolutely pragmatic approach” was needed to reset the UK-EU relationship.
He said the combined value of the food, drink and carbon trading deals now under discussion would be worth £9bn a year to the UK economy by 2040, while repeating Labour’s manifesto pledge not to rejoin the single market or customs union or reintroduce freedom of movement.
After a tough report from former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi in 2024 on the threat of Europe’s slowing economic growth, the EU’s focus on how to revive the single market is hotly debated. Speaking on Monday, Dragi said “Europe risks being subjugated, divided and industrialized at once”while calling for a transition from federation to federation.
EU leaders will meet in Belgium next week for a special summit to discuss how to strengthen the EU’s single market, which European Council President Antonio Costa described as “a strategic imperative”.
