Brexit spoils: Who's bidding to host EU agencies relocating from London?
Twenty-one countries are competing to take over the two prized EU agencies currently located at Canary Wharf.
Tuesday 1 August 2017 15:13, UK
Twenty-one EU countries have sent in bids to host the two EU agencies that have to be relocated from London after Brexit.
The high number of bids - coming from all but six of the 27-post Brexit EU member states - sets the stage for a for the prized bodies, which together employ some 1,000 highly skilled workers.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Banking Authority (EBA) are currently based in London's Canary Wharf.
The Irish Government has entered bids for both agencies, along with Germany, France, Austria, Poland and Belgium.
Nineteen cities are bidding for EMA, which has nearly 900 staff and acts as a one-stop-shop for approving and monitoring the safety of drugs across Europe.
Milan, Copenhagen, Athens, Amsterdam and Barcelona are among the candidates to host the agency, with Milan seen as a possible front-runner.
Eight cities have applied for EBA, which employs 160 people and writes and coordinates banking rules for the bloc.
Frankfurt, Paris, Luxembourg and Prague are among those bidding for it, with the German city viewed as a favourite as it already hosts the European Central Bank and the EU insurance agency.
Vienna, Warsaw, Dublin and Brussels submitted applications to host both agencies.
Only Hungary, Slovenia, Cyprus and the three Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia decided not to enter the competition.
The figures were released by the Council of the European Union after bidding for the agencies finished at midnight on Monday.
In the past, races for such agencies became heated, but EU diplomats have said they are keen to avoid disrupting the unity the bloc has found over Brexit.
The decision is made by November.