On Thursday 22 February, the Member States’ ambassadors to the European Union (Coreper) and 27 MEPs chosen from the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) and Civil Liberties (LIBE) committees will attempt to choose the city that will host the future ‘European Anti-Money Laundering Authority’ (AMLA) from the nine official candidatures: Rome, Vienna, Vilnius, Riga, Frankfurt, Dublin, Madrid, Brussels and Paris (see EUROPE 13334/22).
For the first time, the European Parliament is involved in this procedure, whereas following Brexit, the repatriation to the EU of the European agencies – the European Banking Authority in Paris and the European Medicines Agency in Amsterdam – had been sealed solely by the Member States, following a series of votes ending in final draws (see EUROPE 11908/1).
In previous EU Council nominations, a Member State had to award a total of 6 points (3, 2 or 1 point(s)) to several cities, and the city with the lowest number of votes in each vote had to withdraw until a candidate emerged. A final draw was then held to break the tie.
In Parliament, the two parliamentary committees are in the process of finalising their delegations, the composition of which is determined by the D’Hondt system for allocating seats to political groups.
Each institution could try, on its own, to arrive at a specific choice or a shortlist of preferred candidates. Interaction will be allowed to determine whether a candidate stands out from the crowd. In the end, a ballot with 54 votes would be necessary. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)