LONDON - The European Union's decision to launch legal proceedings, which may end up dragging Britain through the courts because of London's plans to violate existing European treaties, could not have come at a worse time.

For not only are the trade talks between Britain and the EU deadlocked with less than three months remaining before border controls and customs checks go up with the rest of Europe, but the idea that the British could still end up in the European docks despite the fact that their country formally left the EU has enraged nationalists in London.