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 The European Medicines Agency (EMA) warned on Tuesday that it could
lose more than 70 percent of its staff, making it unable to
function, if politicians pick the wrong new home for the
London-based agency after Britain leaves the European Union.
It cited a survey of its around 900 staff, but declined to name the
19 candidate cities.
The European edition of Politico, however, said the survey had shown
that Amsterdam was the top choice of EMA staff and the agency had
told the Commission it would likely lose the least number of staff
if it relocated to the Dutch city.
Politico said Barcelona and Vienna were runners-up in terms of
projected staff retention. The EMA sees keeping staff as key to
maintaining essential services, such as new drug approval and
monitoring side effects, following the planned move from London
after Brexit.
An EMA spokeswoman declined to comment.
For the five locations most popular with EMA's staff, retention
rates would be 65-81 percent, allowing for approval of new drugs and
safety monitoring to largely continue, the regulator said.
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But loss of key staff and expertise after a move to any of the
lower-ranking cities would start to erode "public trust in the
system" as the body would need years to regroup after a move.
Politico said at least nine out of 10 EMA employees would quit
rather than relocate to candidate cities Warsaw, Bucharest or Sofia.
Milan, Copenhagen, Athens and Dublin are also among the aspiring
host cities, with Milan previously seen as a possible frontrunner.
The European Commission is assessing new locations, but the decision
rests with EU leaders who will try to reach a deal at their next
summit in October, with a final decision expected a month later.
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger, editing by Louise Heavens and Susan
Fenton)
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