November 20 (SeeNews) - Croatia’s government has decided to withdraw its application to host the headquarters of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in Zagreb, the ministry of foreign and European affairs said on Monday.
The procedure preceding the decision to relocate the headquarters of the agency from London "does not ensure the evaluation of all the criteria in the same way and that it was subject to arbitrary findings of EMA," the ministry said in a statement.
However, Croatia has gained valuable experience of competing for future relocations of EU agencies and bodies, it added.
"We believe that the foundation for all future decisions should be the principle of equality between the Member States, including in the first place the equitable distribution of headquarters of EU agencies and other bodies."
Croatian media reported in September that Zagreb meets the location criterium in the process, as the building proposed, the Sky Office in Croatia's capital, has a total floor area of 32,000 square metres. However, Croatia did not provide enough information for the evaluation of the accessibility, opportunities for education, employment for spouses and smooth continuation of EMA's activities criteria, the Jutarnji List daily reported back then.
The EU Member States select a new host city for the EMA on November 20, the agency said in a statement earlier this month.
"Moving a large organisation such as EMA to a new location is a challenging undertaking under any circumstances. It is made even more complex by the ambitious timetable determined by the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 30 March 2019," it said.
The Council of the European Union said in August that Bucharest, Sofia and Zagreb, among 16 other cities, have applied to host the EMA.
In October, the European Commission issued its assessment of Sofia’s application to host the agency, outlining several shortfalls.
Bulgaria's offer does not provide information on the timeframe for ensuring EMA business continuity, does not provide details on the ability for the agency to retain staff, and does not elaborate on how the agency would remain operational during the transition, the Commission said.