European Parliament backs EMA move, with conditions
European Parliament has approved the relocation of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) from London to Amsterdam.
The law enacting the relocation was approved on Thursday, March 15, subject to the condition that the EU Commission and the Dutch authorities report on the construction progress every quarter.
The Brexit vote sparked relocation plans for the agency, which is responsible for the protection of public and animal health through the scientific evaluation and supervision of medicines.
In November last year, Amsterdam was reportedly chosen as the new location by drawing lots from a fishbowl.
It was reported that Amsterdam and Milan were tied at 13 votes each in the last round (Slovakia abstained). The UK had been excluded from the vote.
Some Italian members of the European Parliament (MEPs) fought the relocation—they claimed that unnamed press releases indicated that the headquarters will not be operational by March 2019.
According to the MEPs, at the time of the vote, the European Commission had been provided with statements from the Netherlands which committed the country to delivering permanent headquarters on time.
At the end of January, Italy and the City of Milan asked the Court of Justice of the European Union to annul the decision to relocate the EMA to Amsterdam.
The agency will occupy a building from January 1, 2019, before moving into a newly-built office in Amsterdam.
When approving the law, the MEPs pressed the EU Commission and the Dutch authorities to deliver the new facilities on time.
According to the European Parliament, the agency should move to its temporary location no later than January 1, 2019 and to its new permanent headquarters no later than November 16, 2019.
Lead MEP Giovanni La Via, said: “We are concerned about the risk of delay in the construction of the new Vivaldi building in Amsterdam, as this could cause a deterioration of the agency’s workflow, which is precisely what we want to avoid.”
MEPs will now start informal three-way (trilogue) negotiations with the Council Presidency and Commission to strike a first-reading agreement on the new EMA seat.
“Member states should not expect the European Parliament just to rubber-stamp their decisions. We regret that its role of co-legislator was not respected, and that is why we want this decision to be taken to a trilogue, under the co-decision procedure,” said La Vie.
The resolution was passed by 507 votes to 112, with 37 abstentions.
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