After Brexit, EMA will move from London.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenković expects that the process of searching for new headquarters of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which is looking for a new host country after Great Britain leaves the European Union, will last until the end of the year. He said that Croatia still had a lot of lobbying to do in order for the HQ to be moved to Croatia, reports Večernji List on April 1, 2017.
“The whole process will last, in my opinion, until the end of this year and we will put forward our arguments, especially our tradition of public health and the fact that we are a new member of the EU which currently on its territory does not have any EU institution. However, that is a process which still requires a lot of lobbying,” said Plenković.
He added that the process was underway, and many EU member states are interested. “The decision-making process will look at many aspects, transport links and everything else that is necessary for more than 1,300 employees of the Agency,” said Plenković. That includes medical schools and a building for meetings of experts.
Plenković pointed out that late last year he wrote about Croatia’s interest to be the seat of EMA to the European Commission and President of the European Council. On Thursday, he spoke about the issue with European Council President Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, and many other European heads of state and governments at the congress of the European People’s Party in Malta.
Croatian MEP Biljana Borzan said that all 27 EU member states expressed their wish to host the EMA, because it represents a huge potential for each country and brings financial and scientific advantages. She added that some member states, such as Croatia, had sent their letters of intent, while some others had advanced much further in their lobbying efforts, established expert teams and prepared studies on the issue. One Swedish minister without portfolio has as his only task to lobby for bringing the EMA from London to Stockholm.
For the European Medicines Agency it is important that the host country has a strong university centre, a developed small and medium business sector as the main driver of innovation in pharmacology, as well as enough hotels for about 36,000 overnight stays per year, said Borzan.
