Attempts by some MEPs (mainly Italian) within the European Parliament committee on the environment and public health, on Monday 12 March, aimed at interrupting the process for relocation of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to the Netherlands, were unsuccessful. A priori, the text should also go through the plenary assembly stage on 15 March.
On 20 November 2017, the member states attributed the seat of the EMA to Amsterdam (the Netherlands), after three votes by secret ballot to select the seat from the three short-listed candidates, namely Milan, Copenhagen and Amsterdam (see EUROPE 11908). On 29 November, therefore, the Commission presented a legislative proposal amending the regulation (726/2004) setting out the foundations of EMA. This required approval from the budgetary authority, i.e. the Parliament and the Council.
At the European Parliament, several Italian MEPs – including Elisabetta Gardini (EPP), Simona Bonafe (S&D) and Patrizia Toia (S&D) – suggested that the legislative proposal should be rejected. Like the Italian authorities before the Court of Justice of the European Union (see EUROPE 11951), they considered that the procedure for selection of a new seat did not meet the criterion of continuity adopted by the heads of state and/or government.
Their rejection amendments were, however, not accepted by the parliamentary committee on the environment and public health. Adopted by a very strong majority (50 for, 5 against with 2 abstentions), the draft legislative resolution gives its endorsement to relocation of the agency to Amsterdam, subject to certain safeguards.
In order to avoid all disruption, MEPs request that relocation to the temporary seat should begin at the latest by 1 January 2019, and relocation to the permanent seat by 16 November 2019. They call for the conclusion of a seat agreement (defining a detailed framework for the Agency’s establishment), three months after the date of entry into force of the regulation under review.
In a statement attached to the report, MEPs condemn the selection procedure for the new seat, saying it “de facto deprived the European Parliament of its prerogatives since it was not effectively involved in the process but is now expected to simply confirm the selection made (...) through ordinary legislative procedure”. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)