On Wednesday 31 January, the Court of Justice of the European Union confirmed that it had received an appeal from the Italian authorities to overturn the decision to relocate the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to Amsterdam.
“Italy and the City of Milan bring actions before the ECJ and the EGC respectively for annulment of the decision” of the Council of the EU, the press services of the Court of Justice announced on Twitter, adding references to the cases C-59/18 and T-46/18.
Readers may recall that on 20 November of last year, the member states awarded the headquarters of the Medicines Agency to Amsterdam, following three secret ballots to decide between Milan, Copenhagen and Amsterdam (see EUROPE 11908).
In the complaint, which has been published on the website of the Italian newspaper Corriere della sera, the Italian authorities argue a misuse of powers, failure to make the proper preliminary investigations and a distortion of the facts, on the grounds of differences between the actual situation of the Amsterdam headquarters and information provided along with the bid.
On Monday 29 January the Netherlands indeed announced that the bespoke building (Zuidas) referred to in their bid would not be ready on time and that the agency would have to be housed temporarily in a building 3 km from Amsterdam between January and November 2019 (see EUROPE 11949).
The Italian authorities explain that the statements made by Prof. Rasi confirm concerns over whether the Dutch bid can meet the criteria required for the proper functioning of the EMA as soon as it is transferred from London, adding that one of the six assessment criteria chosen by the heads of state or government of the EU for the transfer of the European agency concerned the continuity of the EMA's work.
When approached for comment, the European Commissioner for Health, Vytenis Andriukaitis, stressed that the Commission was not part of the Italian election debate and that the Council's decision had been made. He went on to say that he was concerned that politicians were using the EMA in their election campaign. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)