LONDON (Reuters) – The European Union will do its utmost to protect Ireland’s single market membership, and it is unacceptable that a third country could jeopardise anyone’s EU status, European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic said on Thursday. “We will do our utmost to protect the place of Ireland in the single market,” he told Euronews. “It’s simply not acceptable that in this case (a) third country would have impact on who are the members of the European Union or what position they have on the single market.” (Reporting by William James and Conor Humphries; editing by James Davey)