Reuters reports that chairman of euro zone finance ministers Pascal Donohoe said that Britain must respect its commitments in the withdrawal treaty it signed with the European Union if it wants to have an agreement on future trade relations with the bloc.

Britain explicitly said this week that it plans to break international law by breaching parts of the Withdrawal Agreement treaty it signed in January. This plunged talks on a future trade relationship between the EU and Britain into crisis less than four months before the United Kingdom is due to leave the EU's orbit at the end of a transition period.

"As the United Kingdom looks to what kind of future trade relationship it wants with the European Union, a prerequisite for that is honouring agreements that are already in place," Donohoe told.

The European Commission, which conducts talks on the future trade deal with London on behalf of the 27-nation bloc, asked Britain on Thursday to drop by the end of September the parts of a planned bill that would break the treaty with the EU.