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Milan leads Amsterdam, Copenhagen in vote for EU drugs agency
Thomson Reuters
By Gabriela Baczynska
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Milan came out in the lead after the first round of a European Union vote on Monday to pick the new host for the London-based European Medicines Agency (EMA) after Brexit, diplomatic sources said.
Amsterdam and Copenhagen followed it into a three-way second vote among national government ministers, due later in the day. Slovak capital Bratislava, the leading contender in ex-communist eastern Europe, came in fourth and was out of the race.
Hosting the EMA and the smaller European Banking Authority (EBA), both currently based in London, will mean jobs, business euros and prestige, so competition has been tough, though there have also been signs of regional solidarity in the contest.
After Malta, Croatia and Ireland withdrew, 16 EU cities were competing to host the EMA. Dublin is still among eight cities competing to host the EBA, the vote on which will follow.
It is hard to predict either result.
The EBA sets rules used by the European Central Bank to carry out stress tests of the banking sector in the bloc.
Estonia's EU minister Mattie Malarias, who was chairing the voting session, called the contest "a sad reminder of the concrete consequences of Brexit". Britain is due to leave the EU in March 2019.
Despite fierce competition, the 27 EU states - minus Britain - are keen to avoid any protracted and bruising dispute over the matter as they see preserving unity as essential in facing Brexit, the biggest setback in the post-World War Two history of European integration.
"Whatever the outcome, the real winner of today's vote is EU27. Organized and getting ready for Brexit," EU summit chair Donald Tusk tweeted ahead of the vote.
Italian EU Minister Sandra Gozi said Milan - a clear favorite in online betting - was a good candidate for the EMA but added that it was "impossible to say" how the vote would go.
Italy is counting on support from its southern EU peers. In another sign of regional solidarity, Belgium's foreign minister said Amsterdam would make a good pick, even though Brussels is itself in the running for both agencies.
Before Bratislava lost its bid, the Czech Republic's EU minister, Ales Chimera, said Prague, a candidate to host the EBA, expected at least one of the two bodies to move to less-developed, ex-communist eastern Europe.
(Additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop, Francesco Guarascio and Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Gareth Jones and Alastair Macdonnald)
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