London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Oct 03, 2025

EU launches legal action against UK over Northern Ireland protocol

EU launches legal action against UK over Northern Ireland protocol

The European Union launched legal proceedings against the United Kingdom on Monday over London's unilateral attempts to extend the Brexit grace period on food imports to Northern Ireland.
The move comes after Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis announced on March 3 that the UK planned to continue to bypass bureaucratic requirements on those imports until October 1.

A grace period on those checks is currently scheduled to expire at the end of March.

This three-month extension from the end of the Brexit transition period on January 1 was an agreed goodwill measure to allow the affected food industries to adapt to the new trade barriers across the Irish Sea.

A specific part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement, called the Northern Ireland Protocol, aims to eliminate the need for border controls between Northern Ireland (part of the UK) and the Republic of Ireland (an EU member).

The EU-UK trade deal, which went into effect at the start of 2021, demands customs checks on some goods arriving in Northern Ireland from the UK mainland, including food.

EU officials said they were blindsided by the UK's move to extend the grace period. Negotiators had been attempting to broke a compromise.

The EU's legal actions are twofold.

On Monday, the EU sent a letter to the UK to formally notify London of its alleged breach of the Withdrawal Agreement, a move that could potentially result in the UK being taken to an arbitration panel that may result in financial sanctions.

The formal notice "marks the beginning of a formal infringement process" as set out in the protocol, a senior EU official said, adding that the letter requests that the UK "carry out swift remedial actions to restore compliance with the terms of the protocol."

The second action -- another letter -- signals the deepening political fissure between the two parties, as it alleges that the UK has breached the provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement.

European Commission vice president Maroš Šefčovič sent the political letter to David Frost, co-chair of the joint committee, calling on the UK government to rectify and refrain from putting its proposed extension of the protocol into practice.

The letter called the UK's unilateral measures "a violation of the duty of good faith," and called on London to enter "bilateral consultations in the joint committee in good faith, in order to reach a mutually agreed solution as quickly as possible."

Stressing that those talks should begin by the end of March, the letter also issued a harsh rebuke of the UK's actions.

"... the UK must stop acting unilaterally and stop violating the rules it has signed up to," it added. "What we need in order to implement the protocol is mutual trust and this kind of unilateral action that we see from the UK, does not build trust."

The UK has denied breaching any protocol.

Earlier this month, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson rebuffed claims of growing tensions between the bloc and the UK, saying he was sure "that with a bit of goodwill and common sense that all these technical problems are imminently solvable."

Yet one senior EU official said on Monday that the UK's move is "the second violation of international law on the same issue," referencing an October 2020 breach of the Brexit deal.

Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney slammed the UK's extension of the grace period earlier this month, telling Irish national broadcaster RTÉ Radio on March 4 that the EU is "negotiating with a partner it simply can't trust."

The Northern Ireland Protocol has been a key point of contention throughout the Brexit talks, with Northern Ireland's Unionists, who are pro-British and pro-Brexit, opposed to the EU-UK trade deal that demands customs checks on some goods arriving in Northern Ireland from the UK mainland.

Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster and her party, the Democratic Unionist Party, argue that the deal puts the future of union at risk.

Northern Ireland, plagued by a history of sectarian violence, is still divided by identity politics, with peacemakers concerned that the EU-UK spat might create a space for those grievances to breathe.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×