European Medicines Agency (EMA): location of the seat

The European Parliament adopted by 507 votes to 112, with 37 abstentions, amendments to the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 726/2004 as regards the location of the seat of the European Medicines Agency.

The matter was referred back to the committee responsible for interinstitutional negotiations.

As a reminder, the Commission proposal aims at amending Regulation (EC) No 726/2004 in order to confirm the seat of the European Medicines Agency in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The main amendments adopted in plenary concern the following issues:

Precise timeline: Members suggested the Commission and the Dutch authorities shall take all the necessary measures to ensure that the Agency can move to its temporary location no later than 1 January 2019 and that it can move to its permanent location no later than 16 November 2019.

The Commission and the competent authorities of the Netherlands shall submit a written report to the European Parliament and the Council on the progress on the adjustments of the temporary premises and on the construction of the permanent building three months after the entry into force of this Regulation, and every three months thereafter, until the Agency has moved into its permanent headquarters.

A headquarters agreement allowing the Agency to take up its duties at the premises approved by the European Parliament and the Council shall be concluded within three months from the date this Regulation enters into force.

Respect for the prerogatives of the Parliament: in a statement, the Parliament condemned the procedure followed for the selection of the new location of the seat, which has de facto deprived the European Parliament of its prerogatives since it was not effectively involved in the process, but is now expected to simply confirm the selection made for the new location of the seat by means of the ordinary legislative procedure.

Under these circumstances, Parliament insisted that the procedure followed for the selection of a new location for the agencies will be revised and not used anymore in this form in the future.

Lastly, Parliament wished to recall as well that in the Inter-institutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making the three institutions committed to sincere and transparent cooperation while recalling the equality of both co-legislators as enshrined in the Treaties.