EU to pick post-Brexit agency winners
Brussels, (MILLAT ONLINE):The fight to host major EU regulatory agencies leaving London after Brexit reaches its climax Monday when ministers vote to choose new host cities in a perplexing process compared to the Eurovision song contest.
The 27 EU affairs ministers meeting in Brussels will decide on how to resolve one of the collateral effects of the UK divorce: finding new locations for the European Medicines Agency and the European Banking Authority, both currently located in London’s high-rise Canary Wharf district.
There is “hot bargaining” behind the scenes, a diplomatic source told AFP, as hopeful EU governments jostle to secure the backing of other countries for agencies that promise both prestige and prosperity.
The EU has given no indication of the top candidates, but British bookmaker Ladbrokes makes Bratislava, Milan and Amsterdam favourites to host the EMA, while Frankfurt, Vienna and Dublin lead the running for the EBA.
In total there are 19 candidates to be the new home of the EMA, one of the world’s most powerful drugs watchdogs, which employs 900 pharmaceutical experts, biologists and doctors from every corner of Europe.
There is a smaller batch of eight bidders for the EBA, the banking overseer with 159 staff. The EBA is perhaps best known for its regular stress tests on the EU’s financial sector in the wake of the global financial crisis.