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Bucharest gets bad news: Bratislava and Milan are favoured to host European Medicine Agency
Bratislava and Milan are favoured to host the European Medicine Agency following Brexit, several European officials quoted by The Financial Times said on Thursday.
Slovakia and Italy presented the best offers for this initiative, while Holland (for Amsterdam) and Denmark (for Copenhagen) are seen as important competitors.
The Slovakian candidacy is seen by European officials as the most powerful in Central and Eastern Europe, an area weakly represented for EU agencies.
Slovakia, a euro zone member, is seen in Brussels as the bastion of a pro-European feeling in an area hostile to EU accession. European experts warn on a possible conflict if no agencies are appointed to one of the ten countries in Central and Eastern Europe, which joined EU as of 2004.
Diplomatic sources also showed that Italy is ready to make more concessions to host the European Medicine Agency in Milan, including sending troops for new NATO units in Baltic states.
The Italians benefit from problems recorded by the Spanish- the candidate city of Barcelona being affected by the Catalan crisis - and from the fact that Northern Europe is divided for several competing offers.
Bucharest and 18 other European cities - including Vienna, Brussels, Sofia, Bonn, Milan, Lille and Barcelona sent offers to host the seat of EMA.
The European Commission evaluated the offers without making a classification of candidate cities according to fulfilling criteria. The final decision on hosting EMA is expected on November 20, following a secret vote.
For the time being, EMA based in London is seen as one of the most important EU specialised agencies. EMA has 900 employees and received visits from 35,000 national agencies and scientists per year, because of its essential role in approving medicines in the European market.