Today the Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper) approved, on behalf of the Council, an agreement with the European Parliament on the text of the regulations for the relocation of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to Amsterdam, and of the European Banking Authority (EBA) to Paris.

The two agencies are currently based in London, in the UK, and need to be relocated in the context of the UK's withdrawal from the EU (Brexit).

The European Medicines Agency is responsible for the scientific evaluation, supervision and safety monitoring of medicines. It is therefore essential for the functioning of the single market for medicines in the EU.

The European Banking Authority works to ensure effective and consistent prudential regulation and supervision across the European banking sector. Among other tasks, the EBA assesses risks and vulnerabilities in the EU banking sector through regular risk assessment reports and EU-wide stress tests.

Background

On 20 November 2017 the EU 27 ministers selected Amsterdam, the Netherlands, as the new seat for the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and Paris, France to relocate the European Banking Authority (EBA). The selection took place in accordance with the procedure endorsed by the EU 27 heads of state and government on 22 June 2017.

On 29 November 2017, the European Commission presented the two legislative proposals to amend the founding regulations of both agencies to reflect the new seats. On 11 December 2017, the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper) agreed on the mandate for the negotiations on both proposals without any changes to the texts proposed by the Commission. These regulations follow the ordinary legislative procedure which means they have to be agreed between the Council and the European Parliament.

Next steps

The regulations will now be submitted to the European Parliament for a vote at first reading and to the Council for final adoption.

The Council is committed to ensuring that both legislative proposals are processed as quickly as possible given the urgency of the matter.