The race is on to host Europe’s prestigious medicines regulator — though some countries in the bidding process haven't ventured far past the starting line.

Even before the U.K. voted to leave the European Union, hopeful future hosts of the European Medicines Agency began their jockeying, just in case. Within months of the surprise vote, almost every EU country declared its intention to be the new home for one of the biggest Brexit prizes once it leaves Canary Wharf in London.

Fast forward to the European Council deadline for formal bids and not every country seems so serious. Some have never visited the agency to learn what its 890 staff need. Some have kept their efforts under wraps. Others have backed out completely. Some never joined the race: the Baltics (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Slovenia and Luxembourg. The Grand Duchy bid only for the similarly situated European Banking Authority (EBA).

Many, however, have rolled out new building proposals and boosted domestic medicines agencies to support the EMA, a vital component of its highly technical work evaluating new drugs. More than 20 percent of that effort is carried out now by the British. Western EU countries such as the Netherlands, Ireland and Denmark organized events in Brussels to present their bids. By contrast, most Eastern European countries have kept quiet, saving their lobbying power for later in the process.

Meeting the workers

An obvious first step for any country wishing to host, house, educate and provide for hundreds of EMA staff and their families would be a trip to the agency. Employees have no say where they will end up, but meeting the EMA’s executive is an opportunity to find out what it needs to run and make the shift seamless.

Five of the 23 initial bidders hadn't visited as of press time, the EMA said.

Of those that have, Hungary knocked first. A Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade delegation, minus the health minister, visited in October.

The country of 10 million leans heavily on the argument that EU agencies should be better spread across the Union. But Hungary already hosts two EU agencies in Budapest. And the European Council has downgraded the geographical spread as a selection criterion, giving more weight to measures that would permit a smooth transition.

Some countries have proposed tailored moving services, such as language courses and family support.

The Czech Republic visited in December and decided not to bid after getting a look at the operation's size and scale. "The Czech Republic can offer better conditions and more suitable capacities for the relocation of the European Banking Authority," said Aleš Chmelař, Czech state secretary for European affairs. (The far smaller EBA has 159 staff.) The Czechs have instead lent support for neighboring Slovakia’s EMA bid.

Some countries have visited more than once, including Austria (three times), Denmark and France, both twice. Health ministers from Spain, France, Ireland, Malta, Portugal, Romania and Sweden have all visited. Other countries sent delegations on their behalf. Virtually all the visitors left leaflets and information for staff on what life would be like in their new city.

At the time of writing, Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, Germany and Poland hadn't visited. Germany “has not provided the EMA any material directly” on its bid, health ministry spokesperson Doris Berve-Schucht said.

Finland said it will visit after submitting a bid. Finland is quietly confident it will stand out from the crowd: It has a “very precise plan” that includes exact details on how the transition will happen, the candidacy spokesperson said.

“It’s a very Finnish way of doing it,” the spokesperson added, noting proximity to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in Helsinki as key to the city’s appeal.

Poland met Polish nationals working for the EMA at its embassy in London in June, said Marcin Rynkowski, director of the department for international cooperation at the Polish health ministry, who is in charge of the EMA bid. Rynkowski said they plan to set a meeting with EMA boss Guido Rasi in London once they've formally applied.

The criteria for the new location, adopted by EU leaders in June, factors in flight connectivity from other EU capitals to the new location. That puts places like Cyprus, on the southeastern periphery of the EU, at a disadvantage compared to centrally located, better-connected EU countries. Cyprus didn't make an official bid announcement after initially expressing interest in becoming the EMA host.

Prime real estate

Many bidding countries have proposed tailor-made offices for the agency. Ireland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Slovakia have offered large, custom developments. Most plan to start construction by year's end and finish by March 2019 — an ambitious timeline.

The Dutch bid includes a transitional building option, in case construction isn't complete when Brexit talks finish, said Kajsa Ollongren, deputy mayor of Amsterdam.

Malta, while offering “several buildings in prime locations” for an immediate transition, would also build customized premises with room for expansion, said Anis Cassar, press officer at the Maltese Permanent Representation to the EU.

France, however, is confident there will be no transition interruptions. Health Minister Agnès Buzyn’s spokesperson said its bid will “guarantee” the EMA will be up and running in its new Lille home by March 30, 2019.

Buzyn has also visited the EMA twice — once in June, again in July — to find out staff needs, especially for the design of its proposed "Biotope" building, conceived specifically for the EMA with health and wellbeing at the core of the design.

Some cities have buildings ready and waiting. Barcelona has proposed the Torre Glòries skyscraper, formerly known as Torre Agbar, and frequently compared with London's "Gherkin" building.

Italy has touted the 32-story Pirelli Tower in northeast Milan. While iconic and available, the tower was completed in 1958 and may seem like a step back in time for EMA staffers accustomed to their very new, state-of-the-art home in London.

Austria has eight available buildings in Vienna, said Philipp Tillich, Austrian health attaché in Brussels. Seven are in the city center.

Greece, which just officially announced its candidacy July 21, has caught up: It has an official website and has suggested the former building of a Greek tobacco company as the new EMA home.

Germany and Portugal are hedging their bets; they've offered a selection of existing and proposed new developments. It's unclear who would make the final call on a new office.

Staff benefits

Some countries have proposed tailored moving services, such as language courses and family support.

“The day after the EU chooses Amsterdam, the Dutch government will open a relocation office to cater to each EMA employee individually,” said Wouter Bos, a former Dutch deputy prime minister and the country’s ambassador for the EMA bid. Portugal is offering a similar service, “a one-stop-shop with liaison officers to help with the staff move.” France would offer a “tailored accompanying pack for staff and their families,” ministry spokespeople said.

Germany, Ireland, Finland and Denmark have kept these details quiet, saying all will be revealed in their final bids.

Lost expertise

One challenge will be compensating for work done by expert staff at the U.K.’s medicines agency. The agency led or co-led 208 human or veterinary drug committees or workshops in 2016. These committees recommend which drugs should be licensed in the EU. Only Germany (195), the Netherlands (168), Sweden (157) and Austria (150) came anywhere close to that volume last year. Croatia participated in one leadership role, Slovakia and Greece in three each and the Czech Republic in 11.

For a big EU country, France’s leadership in these committees is relatively low, at 98 in 2016. Of those only 22 were in the major human drug safety committees.

To compensate for the loss of British expertise, a handful of countries have already pledged to pick up the slack.

Austria said it is hiring new people for its medicines agency to take up more workload for the EMA. Similarly, Spain said it has set aside €3 million to recruit 40 more staff and invest in training at the national agency to take on some of the U.K.'s work.

Meanwhile the Netherlands, which already rates high in work volume for its size, took a more philanthropic approach, dedicating €8 million to train staffers of other EU national drug agencies to take some EMA workload from the U.K. It’s investing an additional €2 million to strengthen its own medicines agency.

The lobbying

The Council of the EU will decide who gets the EMA in November. It involves a complex multi-stage voting process of up to three rounds. With the added layer of the EBA vote, it will be hard to sew up sooner.

That hasn’t prevented rumors from swirling about attempts to do just that. In June, weeks before EU leaders decided on six criteria for evaluating the bids, France’s pitch was thought to be part of a bargaining deal with Germany in which Frankfurt would win the EBA and Lille the EMA.

Another tale said the French were involved in a more complex deal. Supposedly, France would support Frankfurt for the EBA and an Eastern European country for the EMA in return for an existing French agency, the European Securities and Markets Authority, being strengthened.

The Council strongly denied any pre-voting deals took place, but the rumors only serve to show who is already taking diplomatic lobbying seriously.

One diplomat in Brussels said Germany is not lobbying hard for the EMA, since its eyes are set on the EBA. Germany is bidding for both agencies just to have leverage to win the EBA, according to the diplomat. Hungary and Poland also are bidding for both agencies but won't say which they prefer.

The Eastern Europeans, part of the last three waves of EU expansion, lobbied hard behind closed doors with national ministers and ambassadors for an upper hand over countries that already have an EU agency and to keep the European Commission from having a decisive role in assessing countries’ bids. Bulgaria, Poland, Romania and Croatia were successful in closed-door lobbying but have disclosed little publicly about their bids.

So little that there are very few public details about Budapest’s candidacy despite the looming deadline. The Bulgarian government has made no official announcement, though a few diplomats in Brussels said they were in the game, too.

The Council strongly denied any pre-voting deals took place, but the rumors only serve to show who is already taking diplomatic lobbying seriously.

Portugal hasn’t had time to lobby. Two-and-a-half weeks before the application deadline, it announced it's offering Porto instead of Lisbon to house the EMA. Despite the country claiming Lisbon was the preferred option for EMA staff (Spain also made this claim about Barcelona.), it swapped cities, but denied this was because of an outcry from officials in Porto.

“Placing an agency as important as EMA in a city like Porto would have a strategic impact not only for Portugal but for Europe,” Health Minister Adalberto Campos Fernandes told POLITICO, arguing that a spread of EU institutions and benefits across different cities, and not only capitals, would benefit their development.

Denmark is making every effort to win over lawmakers and the EMA. It has hosted meetings with virtually all other EU countries about its candidacy, attended at times by Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, spokesperson Katrine Kirch Kirkegaard said. Denmark has also visited the EMA twice, in November and June. In return, the Danish health minister hosted EMA boss Guido Rasi in February this year, and Denmark’s drugs regulator hosted the EMA’s relocation team in April.

The lobbying is only expected to intensify ahead of the final decision in November.

Arnau Busquets Guàrdia contributed to this article.