26/01/2024 (Agence Europe) – On Friday 26 January, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced that, following a decision by the Governing Council on 18 December 2023, national central banks may be asked, since 1 January, as a corrective measure, the imposition of interest on the amount to be repaid where they have infringed the prohibition on monetary financing, i.e. where a national central bank commits its monetary policy instruments for the purpose of financing public authorities, in breach of Article 123(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. This rate will correspond to the ten-year sovereign yield on the securities of the Member State concerned or to the interest rate set according to a methodology applied by the European Commission, and must be positive. Previously, these measures were limited to the repayment of funds by public administrations to the national central bank concerned. (EV)