EU would consider veterinary agreement with UK - Sefcovic

The European Union would be prepared to look at a bilateral veterinary agreement with the UK as a way around many of the barriers associated with the Northern Ireland Protocol, European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic was quoted as saying.

"We would be ready to discuss (the issue) with our UK partners," Irish national broadcaster quoted Sefcovic as saying in an interview and added that Sefcovic raised the issue with his UK counterpart Michael Gove on Wednesday.

RTE also reported that Sefcovic would not rule out extending two grace periods providing Northern Ireland firms with derogations to a number of EU food safety requirements.