London loses prestigious EU agencies to Paris and Amsterdam because of Brexit
The European Medicines Agency is going to Amsterdam and the European Banking Authority is moving to Paris because Britain is leaving the bloc
London is losing the European Medicines Agency to Amsterdam and the European Banking Authority to Paris, in one of the first concrete signs of Brexit as the UK prepares to leave the European Union.
The two cities were selected to host the agencies after tie breaks that saw the winner selected by drawing a name from the ballot box.
The Dutch capital beat Milan when lots were drawn after three rounds of Eurovision-style voting on Monday had resulted in a dead heat.
Paris won the race to take the European Banking Authority from London, after the favourite Frankfurt was knocked out in the second round.
The EU’s 27 European affairs ministers, minus the UK, took less than three hours to decide the new home of the agency, which employs 900 people in Canary Wharf, London. The decision on the banking agency, which employs 150 and is also based in Canary Wharf, was made in little more than an hour.
Brexit is still more than a year away but European cities were lining up to collect the spoils of Britain’s departure from the regional bloc.