12/08/2017

AMSTERDAM -PARIS WIN IN LUCKY DIP

Brussels : Amsterdam and Paris won the right to host two EU agencies that must leave London because of Brexit-

After an extraordinary ministerial meeting in Brussels- that left both results decided by drawing lots from a fishbowl.

The European Medicines Authority [EMA] a key in the continent's healthcare industry, will go to Amsterdam, which tied with favorite Milan-

The European Banking Authority [EBA] will go to Paris, winner in the lucky dip over Dublin, which won some sympathy votes due to the pain Brexit is causing Ireland.

Among other big losers was Frankfurt, whose rivalry with Paris to displace London as the EU's main financial center once Britain leaves the block in 2019 took a hit when it-

Finished a distant third in the three-way, second round vote for the EBA, which set rules for testing resilience of EU banks.

Also licking wounds from a secret ballot that tested friends and rivals in a race for lucrative spoils were the ex-communist countries of eastern Europe, which complain they host few of the EU's 40 odd agencies due to joining late.

Among winners were the EMA and its 900 staff, many of whom had said they might quit if if posted to the poorer east, a threat that raised concern  about disruption in drug approvals.

It was the abstention of Slovakia, piqued by its capital Bratislava being narrowly knocked out of the EMA voting in the first round, which allowed Amsterdam-

To pull level with early leader Milan and tie the runoff at 13-13- a result few had expected given that all 27 states bar Britain had a vote.

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