On Thursday 8 February, the conference of presidents of the political groups of the European Parliament decided to send a fact-finding mission to Amsterdam to take stock of preparations being made by the Netherlands to relocate the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
Headed by Giovanni La Via (EPP, Italy), the mission will visit the future temporary premises and final premises of the European agency which is to be re-housed in the EU after the United Kingdom leaves the EU. It will aim to ensure that preparations are moving forward “smoothly as scheduled”, according to a European Parliament press release.
The mission will be held before Parliament's environment committee takes a stance, on 12 March, on the legislative proposal (for which La Via is rapporteur) which officially replaces London by Amsterdam as the seat of the EMA.
Italy challenged re-housing the EMA in Amsterdam before the EU Court of Justice, mainly due to the differences between the de facto situation on the ground and the information provided when the offer was tendered by the Dutch authorities (see EUROPE 11951).
Relocation of EMA – European Parliament to send fact-finding mission to Amsterdam
On Tuesday 6 February, the board of directors of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) reaffirmed its support for the Dutch offer to house the EMA premises after the United Kingdom leaves the EU.
“The interim solution ensures the continuity of EMA’s activities in Amsterdam for a limited time until the completion of its new permanent building on November 15, 2019”, the EMA press service commented after the special session of the board of directors on the relocation process.
Member states decided to move the seat of the EMA to Amsterdam on 20 November last, after three secret ballots to reach a decision between the three leading candidate cities, namely Milan, Copenhagen and Amsterdam (see EUROPE 11908). Late January, however, the Italian authorities filed a complaint with the EU Court of Justice, considering that the Dutch offer did not meet the criterion of continuity advocated by the heads of state and government.
In a press release published on Wednesday 7 February, the EMA states that it will indeed move from London to Amsterdam by the end of the month of March 2019. “The selection and availability of a temporary building was part of the Netherlands’ bid to host the Agency” and this will be “for a limited time until the completion of its new permanent building on November 15, 2019”, the Agency states in its press release. The meeting on 7 February is reported to have been an opportunity for the board of directors to be briefed on progress regarding the temporary premises and on the details of the permanent building. It also allowed the board to examine the main elements of the dossier to be submitted to the budgetary authority and to call for further information in order to advance notification of relocation.
When questions were raised by the press on the significance of such a press release in the conflict with Italy, the European Commission refused to respond, saying: “I am not speaking for the EMA or for Italy, or for the EMA, or for Parliament. I am speaking for the Commission and I believe that we have already entered into detail. (...) The Commission has played its role in analysis and evaluation”. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)