WITH A POINTS-BASED voting system and fierce national pride at stake, it resembles nothing so much as the Eurovision Song Contest.
But the European Union will this week kick off a less glamorous but more lucrative battle – for the right to host two London-based EU agencies after Britain leaves.
At a summit in Brussels, the leaders of the remaining 27 EU countries – including new Taoiseach Leo Varadkar – will endorse the process for choosing where the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and European Banking Authority (EBA) will move to.
Irish ministers have expressed an interest in hosting both agencies.
A final vote by secret ballot is expected in October.
Both agencies are currently based in London’s Canary Wharf business district and together employ more than 1,000 people.
They promise to bring economic benefits and prestige to whichever country hosts them after the Brexit process is complete.
From big guns like France and Germany to newer eastern European states seeking to make their mark, the competition promises to be fierce.
“It’s like Eurovision,” a diplomat from a major European country said.
So far the EMA candidate cities include Amsterdam, Copenhagen, the northern French city of Lille, Stockholm and Barcelona – with the Catalan city hoping to house the agency in a round-topped skyscraper nicknamed ‘the Suppository’ (amongst other things).
The medicines agency is responsible for testing and certificating pharmaceuticals for humans and animals across the EU.
The German financial hub of Frankfurt is meanwhile the frontrunner to host the EBA, while Luxembourg, Paris and Prague are also among the leading candidates.
The EBA is perhaps best known for its regular stress tests on the EU’s financial sector, which have become a vital focus for investors and regulators in the wake of the global financial crisis.
Authorities here have identified two potential sites for the medicines agency – one in the Docklands area of Dublin, and another near the airport.
Health Minister Simon Harris said in a recent speech that he had visited the EMA in London to better understand the needs of management.
“Dublin has the advantage of being an English-speaking environment and this is important as English is the working language of the EMA and the pharmaceutical industry,” Harris said – adding that it was time to “redouble” efforts to become the agency’s new home.
Meanwhile, Eoghan Murphy – who was the junior minister in charge of financial services until last week’s reshuffle – said last month that Dublin was the “least disruptive” place to relocate the EBA, for both the work it was carrying out and its staff.
Outgoing Finance Minister Michael Noonan said last week that Ireland “also meets a number of important criteria to be taken account of when considering the location of the EBA”.
We have a significant International Financial Services Centre which has been built up over the past 30 years. We also have excellent schools and colleges and readily available commercial office space of the size required by the EBA. In addition, we have good transport links to other European capitals.
Alongside Dublin and the other potential hosts, cities like Vienna and Warsaw have also put themselves forward as candidates for both agencies.
The EMA, which has been based in London since 1995, employs nearly 900 people and accounted for nearly 30,000 nights of hotel stays by visitors in 2015, according to EU figures.
For its part the EBA, set up in 2011, employs 190 people and accounts for 9,000 hotel nights a year.
And while the competition for the agencies is tough, the EU is doing all it can to ensure it maintains a unified front in public as it heads into Brexit negotiations.
“There’s a lot of posturing at the moment, but in the end it’s about the unity of the 27″ remaining EU nations, a senior EU official said.
The procedure the leaders will agree on at today’s summit, over an after-dinner ‘digestif’ once British Prime Minister Theresa May has left the room, consists of several stages.
Firstly the candidate cities must formally put themselves forward by 31 July, according to an EU working document seen by AFP.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, will then evaluate the cities by 30 September, taking into account criteria including accessibility for current employees, work opportunities for their spouses and schools for their children.
But it will also look at whether their countries already host other EU agencies, in order to ensure fair distribution.
The final decision will go back to the 27 member states in October, in a secret vote.
Each country has a total of six voting points to give to the candidate cities – three points for the first preference, two points for the second preference, and one point for the third.
While they are allowed to vote for themselves they are also expected to take the commission’s assessments into account when voting for the others.
If any location gets three points from 14 or more members then it automatically wins – otherwise there is a second vote for the top three candidate cities with the most points, with each country only getting one vote each.
Should there still be no clear winner, there will be a third and final round between the two final candidates.
And the result could throw up surprises, just like in Eurovision.
“You could get Conchita Wurst or you can also get Abba,” the senior EU official joked.
Whatever happens, Britain will get “nul points”: as well as taking away the two agencies the EU is also determined to make it pay for the moving fees.
Reporting by - © AFP 2017. Additional reporting by Daragh Brophy.
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