by Peter O'Donnell
BRUSSELS, Sept 1 (APM) - The level of Brexit-induced disruption anticipated by the European Medicines Agency is leading it to take "extraordinary measures", it has told APM.
A meeting this week between EMA executive director Guido Rasi and European Parliament president Antonio Tajani was one such measure, said the EMA press office in an email.
According to a press release from Tajani's office, the meeting "focused on the EMA's role in health protection and innovation and its relocation due to Brexit".
A formal meeting between the head of the EMA and the head of the European Parliament is a highly unusual occurrence - indeed, it is understood to be unprecedented. EMA explained the encounter as follows:
"The European Parliament, which has a seat on EMA's Management Board, is taking a keen interest in how the impact of the UK's withdrawal from the EU and the Agency's relocation may affect EMA's ability to protect the health of European patients and consumers."
It went on: "While you may find a meeting between the Head of an EU Agency and the President of the European Parliament extraordinary, the withdrawal of a member state from the EU and the re-rooting of a large, well-functioning Agency such as EMA are unprecedented and require extraordinary measures by all those concerned."
No link to Milan
Both EMA and Tajani's office were adamant that the meeting - between two Italians - had no connection with Milan's candidacy to host the EMA.Tajani's spokesman Carlo Corazza flatly denied any suggestion that the meeting was linked in any way to favouring Milan.
According to Tajani's press release, "some candidate cities fully fulfil the criteria required". But Corazza said that Tajani did not divulge which those cities were.
The EMA told APM that "Mr Tajani and Professor Rasi are both of the opinion that there are a number of candidate cities that fulfil EMA's requirements for a smooth transition among the bids submitted".
It "categorically" denied any suggestion the meeting "can be construed as being in favour of one particular location."
Expensive exercise
The extraordinary nature of the situation is underlined by details that have emerged about the likely cost of the EMA relocation.According to papers obtained by EU Observer, the EMA estimates that early termination of its Canary Wharf lease, valid until 30 June 2039, will cost more than 425 million euros.
Other costs include 28 million euros to pay for staff needed to prepare the move and almost 23 million euros for staff-related relocation costs, such as travel to the new location, language courses and resettlement costs.
Moving the agency's IT services is likely to absorb another 11 million euros, and other preparatory meeting and mission costs are put at around 2 million euros.
The information obtained by EU Observer - which was supplied to the European Parliament as part of a confidential briefing - also indicates that responsibility for bearing the costs "will be decided during the EU/UK negotiations".
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