BRUSSELS, 06 March. - (ANA) - The European Union (EU) will launch legal action against the UK “very soon” over Britain’s extension of a grace period for checks on goods heading to Northern Ireland, the vice president of the European Commission has said.

 

Maros Sefcovic told the Financial Times the decisions announced by the UK government yesterday had been a “very negative surprise”.

 

Ministers yesterday announced they will unilaterally change a part of the Northern Ireland Brexit deal to better suit British businesses.

 

The government said it would extend the grace period on Irish Sea border checks for UK supermarkets and suppliers to adapt to new trade barriers.

 

The first of these periods is set to expire at the end of March, but Britain announced yesterday it will now extend the grace period until October.

 

The UK is also looking to extend grace periods covering parcels and items such as bulbs and plants.

 

The move was met with furious backlash from Brussels, with EU officials holding emergency discussions with David Frost, the Prime Minister’s Europe Adviser, last night. 

 

Sefcovic said the European Commission was already working on “infringement proceedings” against the UK, for what it sees as a breach of the two sides’ 2019 divorce treaty.

 

“We are currently preparing it and it would be really something coming to our table very soon,” he told the FT. “The most precise term I can give you is really very soon.”

 

Downing Street insisted this evening that it remained “committed” to the Northern Ireland protocol and wanted to work with the EU to settle the issue.

 

Simon Coveney, Ireland’s foreign minister, warned the UK against committing to the extension, saying this morning that the EU would see Britain as an untrustworthy partner.

 

“To say that is disrespectful, would be an understatement,” he said.   - (ANA) -

 

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