Brussels, 07/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - A Spanish delegation headed by Ambassador Fernando Perpina Robert, set out the main strong points in Brussels on Wednesday that would enable Barcelona to be selected as headquarters of the European Food Agency (EFA): - good transport system, thus "easily accessible"; - since 1997, Barcelona has been recognized as the European city with the best quality of life: - with eight universities and four institutions specialized in agri-food research, the "longstanding tradition" in the field of food safety would not longer need to be proven; - logistically, Barcelona is prepared to place at the EFA's disposal ("free of charge") 4000 sq meters of land in the biomedical research park (located in the old Olympic village) that will be operational in 2002. Other representatives of this delegation recalled that Barcelona's application was backed by the Spanish government, that of the region of Catalonia and the city's mayor, but acknowledged that, for now, no Member State had officially backed this candidacy. (Germany has already let it be known that it would back Helsinki's candidacy).
Th member of the Bonino list, Gianfranco Dell'Alba, for his part said that, when voting on the subject next week, and adopting the report tabled by the British Labour MEP Phillip Whitehead, "the European Parliament risks moving against the candidacy of Parma as headquarters of the future European Food Agency". Indeed, the Italian MEP observes, the text approved unanimously in Committee states that the Authority should fulfill several criteria and, especially, be located in a Member State which, in a classification based on the number of cases pending before the Court of Justice for alleged breaches of Community law, would be among the "top half" of countries registering the least number of such cases. It is obvious that Italy (and France too) are being targeted, so as to leave a free hand to the candidacies of "virtuous" cities like Barcelona and, especially, Helsinki, Dell'Alba shouted, surprised at seeing such recommendations coming from a British MEP, "homeland of the mad cow".
Persson: the decision over the headquarters of the Food Authority "is not one of the main issues"
of the Gothenburg Summit
In addition, European Council President, Goran Persson, asked by the press at the end of his meeting on Wednesday with Guy Verhofstadt (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.4), said that the decision over the headquarters of the future Food Safety Authority "is not one of the main issues on the agenda of the European Council of Gothenburg", and added: "We shall only put it on the agenda if a consensus emerges between Member States on the distribution of the headquarters" of the different EU agencies.
As for Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, he recalled on the same occasion that Brussels was not a candidate, but that it would be "ready to host" the new Authority were there to be no consensus on the applicant cities (You may recall that other than Barcelona, Helsinki and Parma, Lille is also a candidate).