Following a secret vote on Monday 20 November, the competent ministers (European affairs, foreign affairs or health) of the 27 member states decided to relocate the two European agencies currently based in London: the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Banking Authority (EBA) will be going to Amsterdam and Paris respectively from the end of March 2019, when Brexit takes effect.
The vote, which followed a highly specific procedure (see EUROPE 11906), took place within the deadline set, but each time ended with a draw to decide between the two finalist cities.
EMA. The first decision concerned the relocation of the EMA, which currently employs 900 people.
In the first round of voting, Milan, Copenhagen and Amsterdam received the bulk of the votes among the 19 candidates cities, before Copenhagen was rejected.
Speaking before the press, foreign affairs minister Halbe Zijlstra promised that his country would do all in its power to ensure the continuity of the agency's work to protect patients, from fake medicines in particular.
Barcelona, a contender for the EMA, fell by the wayside during the first round. The Spanish press immediately blamed this failure on the Catalan crisis.
EBA. Eight cities were candidates to host the European Banking Authority, which employs a staff of 170.
Paris, Dublin and Frankfurt quickly took leading positions, with Frankfurt then ruled out in a second round.
The French minister for European affairs, Nathalie Loiseau, thanked everybody who had voted for the French capital, adding that the tough decision showed the quality of the candidacies on the table. She said that in the future, it may be necessary to take the criterion of geographic balance into account more, as no Eastern country had taken over an agency. But this time, the criterion of preparedness and speed of relocating the agencies had to take precedence, she explained.
According to the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the EU, the vote was highly transparent and the procedure, based on strict criteria, respected in full, Estonian minister Matti Maasikas explained.
The Commission immediately pledged rapidly to present the necessary legislative proposals to set in place the two decisions made and provide support for the process of transferring the two agencies, so as to ensure continuity of their activities.
A sad day for the 27? Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, set the tone on Monday morning. Wishing the candidate cities good luck, he took to Twitter to say that the big winner of the day would be the EU of 27, by demonstrating its ability to get organised to manage the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU.
These decisions on the agencies were made at a 'General Affairs' Council of 27 ('article 50' format). The ministers took stock of the current negotiations on Brexit at a session attended by the EU negotiator, Michel Barnier. Maasikas stressed the importance of the coming weeks to make a breakthrough in negotiations ahead of the December European summit (see EUROPE 11907). (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)