DUCHY OF BRITTANY

CENTRAL BANK OF BRITTANY

SOVEREIGN DECLARATION N° 202607-09-BCB-001
Regarding the refusal to apply Directive 2014/59/EU on the territory of the Duchy of Brittany

Issued by the Governor of the Central Bank of Brittany

Gwenned, 9 July 2026

1. STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLE

The Central Bank of Brittany (hereinafter BCB) formally notifies the institutions of the European Union, national and supranational regulatory authorities, and all of its institutional partners, of its decision not to apply Directive 2014/59/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 establishing a framework for the recovery and resolution of credit institutions and investment firms.

This decision is final, sovereign and non-negotiable in principle.

2. LEGAL FOUNDATIONS

2.1 The Duchy of Brittany is a member of neither the European Union nor the European Economic Area. No accession treaty, association agreement, nor any provision of international or customary law establishes the competence of European institutions over the territory of the Duchy, its financial establishments or its nationals.

2.2 The Duchy guarantees the full and complete independence of the BCB in conducting the monetary and prudential policy of its institutions. This independence is non-delegable and cannot be circumvented by foreign directives.

2.3 Any attempt to apply Directive 2014/59/EU extraterritorially on the territory of the Duchy shall constitute a violation of public international law and shall be treated as such.

3. GROUNDS FOR REFUSAL

3.1 — The bail-in mechanism is a disguised expropriation

Article 43 of the Directive authorises resolution authorities to forcibly convert the claims of unguaranteed depositors into capital of a failing institution, without contradictory judicial proceedings, without effective suspensive recourse, and without the prior written or tacit consent of the injured parties.

The BCB considers this mechanism a direct and characterised violation of property rights. It recalls that the Cypriot precedent of March 2013 — during which depositors suffered a forced haircut of 47.5% of their assets by an administrative decision taken in the middle of the night — is not a historical anomaly, but the real-world demonstration of what this mechanism permits, organises and normalises.

The Duchy of Brittany will not expose its depositors to this risk.

3.2 — Mutualisation of risks without consent is unacceptable

The Directive imposes a logic of constrained solidarity between establishments of Member States, each having radically different risk profiles. A depositor of the Duchy cannot be made jointly liable, without their knowledge and without their consent, for reckless credit decisions taken in Brussels, Berlin or Athens.

Financial solidarity is built through consent. It will never be imposed by directive.

3.3 — Resolution procedures lack transparency and due process

Directive 2014/59/EU authorises resolutions decided in urgency, activated outside market hours, published after execution. This model is incompatible with the standards of transparency and due process guaranteed by fundamental rights in the Duchy of Brittany.

The BCB's sovereign resolution framework, adopted on 3 March 2024, requires:

• A contradictory audit published before any resolution measure

• A negotiation process with Breton institutions

• Prior notice to affected depositors

• Personal liability of European directors responsible

These four guarantees are absent from the European Directive. They are not, and never will be, negotiable.

3.4 — The Directive is part of a centralised control logic incompatible with the Duchy's sovereignty

The BCB observes that Directive 2014/59/EU and the digital euro project approved in position by the European Parliament on 8 July 2026 proceed from the same institutional logic: the progressive concentration in Brussels and Frankfurt of all monetary, prudential and resolution decision-making levers.

The BCB has refused the digital euro. It refuses Directive 2014/59/EU. These two refusals are two sides of the same position of principle: money belongs to those who hold it, not to those who claim to manage it. It is for this reason that the Duchy of Brittany has undertaken the transition to the Brittany Pound by the end of 2028, signalling the definitive end of the Euro in Brittany.

4. APPLICABLE ALTERNATIVE FRAMEWORK

Credit institutions authorised by the BCB are subject exclusively to the Duchy of Brittany's prudential and resolution framework, which guarantees:

5. NOTIFICATIONS AND IMMEDIATE EFFECTS

5.1 Credit institutions authorised in the Duchy have thirty days from the date of this declaration to inform their clients that their assets are governed exclusively by Breton law and may not be subject to any resolution measure decided by an authority external to the Duchy.

5.2 Any act by a foreign resolution authority seeking to apply Directive 2014/59/EU on the territory of the Duchy or with regard to its nationals shall be considered an unfriendly act and treated accordingly through appropriate diplomatic, legal and economic channels.

5.3 This declaration shall be notified to:

• Bank for International Settlements (BIS) — Basel

• International Monetary Fund (IMF) — Washington

• Financial Stability Board (FSB) — Basel

• European Central Bank — Frankfurt (for information)

• European Banking Authority — Paris (for information)

• All partners of Central Banks of the Duchy

6. FINAL DECLARATION

The Central Bank of the Duchy of Brittany was founded on a simple principle, tested and never contradicted by twelve centuries of Breton history: trust is earned, it is not decreed.

We do not refuse international cooperation. We refuse subordination.

We do not refuse financial modernity. We refuse surveillance disguised as progress.

We do not refuse systemic stability. We refuse that our depositors pay the price in place of those who took the risks.

The Duchy of Brittany remains open to its partners, its investors, and to any jurisdiction sharing these principles.

Gwenned, 9 July 2026

By delegation,

Clay Oberman

President of the Central Bank of Brittany

This document is published in the Official Journal of the Duchy of Brittany.

Available in Breton, French and English on the BCB official portal.

Reference: BCB/DEC/202607-09-BCB-001