Nineteen countries apply to host EMA

BRUSSELS – 2 August 2017: A total of 19 countries are vying to host the European Medicines Agency after Brexit — six of which are also bidding to win the European Banking Authority, the Council of the European Union said Tuesday.

The candidates bidding for the EMA, one of Brexit’s biggest prizes for the Continent, are Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Athens (Greece), Barcelona (Spain), Bonn (Germany), Bratislava (Slovakia), Brussels (Belgium), Bucharest (Romania), Copenhagen (Denmark), Dublin (Ireland), Helsinki (Finland), Lille (France), Milan (Italy), Porto (Portugal), Sofia (Bulgaria), Stockholm (Sweden), Valletta (Malta), Vienna (Austria), Warsaw (Poland), Zagreb (Croatia), Politico magazine reported.

There are eight candidates bidding for the EBA: Brussels (Belgium), Dublin (Ireland), Frankfurt (Germany), Paris (France), Prague (Czech Republic), Luxembourg City (Luxembourg), Vienna (Austria), Warsaw (Poland).

Some countries are pitching different cities for each agency.

The total bidding for the EMA is one less than the 20 countries forecast from a POLITICO survey of EU member countries to benchmark which are the most and least committed to hosting the prized 890-staff agency. From that survey, nine were very committed, four were fairly committed, eight were less committed and two dropped out.

The surprises include Hungary and Cyprus, the latter of which announced Monday evening, hours before the final deadline, that it had also opted to drop out.

EU member countries had until midnight Monday to submit applications for one or both agencies to the Council.

The European Commission will now launch its own assessment of every application to judge whether they have fulfilled the relocation criteria as set out by the Council and Commission in June.

The Commission will then present its findings in October to the Committee of Permanent Representatives in the European Union.