Most EU member states would like to host the London-based headquarters of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) or the European Banking Authority (EBA) once the UK has left the EU. This is the trend that emerges just a few days before the 31 July application deadline for cities interested in hosting these agencies.
On 22 June, the EU heads of state and government agreed on the procedure and criteria on which the post-Brexit relocations should be based. The heads of state and government set 31 July as the deadline for interested cities to apply and a decision is to be made at the General Affairs Council in November 2017. The heads of state and government also decided on the six following criteria: - a place that is accessible; - a place in which the headquarters can be operational as soon as the UK leaves the EU; - the existence of adequate infrastructure to host the children of employees; - appropriate access to the labour market, social security and health care for the employees' families; - a certain continuity in the work; - geographical allocation.
EUROPE understands that around 20 member states have expressed hopes of hosting one of the two agencies, and that the document of 22 June states that no one single city can host both agencies. Ireland (Dublin), Denmark (Copenhagen), Finland (Helsinki) and Malta (SmartCity) have thus conducted relentless media campaigns to host the EMA. Luxembourg meanwhile is reported to very much want to host the EBA. As far as EUROPE understands, it is only Estonia and Lithuania that have not made any offer. In response to EUROPE's questions, Bulgaria has said that it has "no official announcement to make on the matter". For the rest, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, Finland and Sweden have apparently all submitted at least one application.
Once the 31 July deadline has passed, the European Commission will prepare a factual analysis of the applications with regard to the six criteria. This analysis will then be sent to the Secretariat General of the European Council "before 30 September" and later published.
The General Affairs Council in November will first put the issue of the headquarters of the EMA to a vote. Each member state will have to give three points to its preferred city, and two and one points respectively to its second and third choices. If no city obtains a majority, the vote will recommence – this time with just one vote being given. A third round could be organised to decide between the two cities with the most votes. The same procedure will be used to determine the headquarters of the EBA, and all the cities that have applied for it will take part, minus the city that has won the EMA. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)