Amsterdam has made its official pitch to persuade the European Medicines
Agency (EMA) to relocate from London to Amsterdam. Among the sweeteners was the
promise of a new purpose-built office building in the city’s Zuidas business
district, the Volkskrant reported on Wednesday.
The competition to land the EMA
has been compared to the Eurovision Song Contest, in that 18 cities are vying
for a prize that will be announced in November. Amsterdam’s presentation in
Brussels was headed by caretaker health minister Edith Schippers along with
Amsterdam deputy mayor Kajsa Ollongren and ‘special ambassador’ Wouter Bos.
Bos, a former finance minister, is now chairman of the VU University Medical
Centre, and is known for saying: ‘May the best candidate win, and I am convinced
that it is Amsterdam.’
The Dutch government said it would finance a €250m to
€300m building for the EMA, which would then pay the market rate for the space.
Ollongren said no special deals – low or no rent – would be on offer. She added
these deals were unnecessary in Amsterdam, citing the Zuidas’s fast links to
Schiphol airport, the availability of hotel rooms, expat help for EMA staffers
and their partners and plans to increase the number of places in nearby
international schools.
For his part, Bos will visit the necessary European
capitals to convince officials there that Amsterdam is the best location for
the EMA.
The EMA is a decentralised agency of the EU, which began operations in
1995. It is responsible for the scientific evaluation, supervision and safety
monitoring of medicines developed by pharmaceutical companies for use in the
EU. The agency has a workforce of some 900 people, mainly highly skilled, from
all over Europe.
Lille, Brussels, Copenhagen Stockholm, Dublin, Barcelona and
Milan are among the other cities hoping to attract the EMA.
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