Brexit sees Netherlands, France gain, as EU agencies plan their own exit

Amsterdam and Paris won the right to host the two EU agencies that must leave London after Brexit in a dramatic ministerial meeting in Brussels that ended in tie votes and the drawing of lots.

The European Medicines Authority (EMA), a key player in the continent's healthcare industry, will go to Amsterdam, which topped the favourite Milan. The European Banking Authority (EBA) will go to Paris, winner in the lucky dip over Dublin.

The honour of perfoming a tiebreak procedure which diplomats think was unprecedented in the Union's 60-year history fell to Matti Maasikas, Estonia's self-effacing EU affairs minister, who was chairing the evening ministerial meeting in Brussels.

"It was a big transparent bowl with two small lots," he told reporters eager for details of the novelty.

Sources familiar with the meeting of national ministers from the 27 EU states other than Britain told Reuters Milan had been just two votes short of outright victory in a second round of voting for the EMA, securing 12 votes to nine for Amsterdam and five for Copenhagen, which was knocked out.

But the abstention of one country — one diplomat said it was Slovakia, whose capital Bratislava was left in fourth place in the first round — saw a 13-13 result in the third-round runoff.

Losing on penalties

"It's like losing a final on penalties," Italy's EU affairs minister Sandro Gozi told reporters, adding that it had left a "bitter taste in the mouth" for a bid team who were never behind at any stage. He rejected, however, talk of "betrayal" among any allies who had promised Milan support before the secret ballot.

Gozi took it better than Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, who on Twitter called the decision "a mockery."

Dutch Foreign Minister Halbe Zijlstra was elated. 

"It is a fantastic result," he said. "It shows that we can deal with the impact of Brexit"

The outcome was welcomed by European pharmaceuticals bodies. The EMA had warned that many of its staff might quit, possibly disrupting healthcare in Europe, if governments had chosen a less attractive host city, notably in the ex-communist east.

Steve Bates, CEO of Britain's BioIndustry Association said: "Businesses now need certainty. The best way to do this is by an early agreement to a transition timeframe and continued close regulatory cooperation. We must now ensure Brexit does not disrupt the safe supply of vital medicines to tens of millions of families in the EU 27 and the UK."

Eastern bloc left empty-handed

In all, 19 cities had bid for the prestige and economic boost that the arrival of the EMA's 900 staff and many offices for international pharmaceuticals companies will bring. Slovak capital Bratislava, the leading contender in ex-communist eastern Europe, came in fourth in the first round of voting.

Eastern governments were left empty-handed when a first round of voting among eight candidates to host the EBA snubbed Warsaw and Prague. Paris, Frankfurt and Dublin went through to the second round, diplomats said, with Paris only slightly ahead of the other two.

Eastern governments had emphasized that there are relatively few EU agencies located in the countries which joined the bloc only after the Cold War.  

Maasikas called the contest "a sad reminder of the concrete consequences of Brexit."

Frankfurt, home to the European Central Bank and aiming to be the continent's primary financial centre after Brexit, suffered a blow when it was badly beaten in the second round.

April 2019 opening targeted

In a third round, Paris overhauled Dublin, which had been just one vote short of a second-round majority. With the scores in the runoff tied again by abstention, Paris won when the Estonian minister chairing the meeting again had to draw lots.

The EBA sets rules used by the European Central Bank to carry out stress tests of the banking sector in the bloc.

Zijlstra and French European Affairs Minister Nathalie Loiseau told reporters both agencies would be ready to open their doors in Amsterdam and Paris on Monday, April 1, 2019, following Britain's formal withdrawal from the European Union at the start at the weekend.

Despite fierce competition, the 27 EU states were keen to avoid any protracted and bruising dispute over the matter as they see preserving unity as essential in facing Brexit, the biggest setback in the post-World War Two history of European integration.

"Whatever the outcome, the real winner of today's vote is EU27. Organized and getting ready for Brexit," EU summit chair Donald Tusk tweeted ahead of the vote.