The European Commission is taking legal steps against Britain in a chain of measures in response to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s move to unilaterally scrap parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol, accommodated by the Brexit deal struck with Brussels.
The agreement effectively keeps Northern Ireland in the Europe single market to avoid a hard border with Ireland, which implies a trade barrier in the Irish Sea for goods shipped from Great Britain.
The commission also announced it was resuming legal steps against Britain which was suspended last year to push negotiations on post-Brexit trade.
The suspended action is tied to Britain’s unilateral extension of protocol grace periods in 2021.
The EU is giving London an ultimatum of two months to respond with a “reasoned opinion”, and its failure to respond satisfactorily would see the case tabled at the European Court of Justice.
