The government’s EU ministerial committee decided Thursday to nominate Helsinki as a candidate to host the European Medicines Agency. Finland is just one of many EU member states vying to be the agency headquarters, which employs roughly 900 officials.
The EMA currently operates from the UK, but will be looking for a new home following the country’s decision to quit the EU.
The committee settled on Helsinki as the Finnish candidate, in part because of its good transportation connections, since one of the selection criteria set by the EU is that the host city must be easily accessible.
"This means flight connections with the capitals of all EU member states and inter-continental flights as well as adequate hotel capacity for summit guests. The criteria also contain requirements for international and multilingual educational opportunities for the children of [agency] personnel," the government said in a statement.
Turku and Kuopio fail to make the cut
The criteria mentioned favour Helsinki in particular. Turku and Kuopio were also interested in hosting the agency, but neither city has international transportation links that rival Helsinki’s.
Earlier this week Helsinki mayor Jan Vapaavuori said that the city was pulling out all the stops to nab the agency. On Monday he expressed impatience over the government’s sluggishness in making an announcement on the matter.
"Helsinki is doing everything for the application to get the European Medicines Agency. We have to take the lead since the government cannot decide. The application period will end soon," Vapaavuori tweeted.
Denmark lobbying hard
Denmark has lobbied long and hard to host the agency. Finland’s campaign has been slowed by dithering over the location of the Finnish Medicines Agency Fimea. Just Wednesday the government finally decided that Fimea’s head office would remain in Kuopio, with operations to continue in Helsinki and Turku as well.
The decision on a new location for the EMA will be made by the EU General Affairs Council in a closed ballot to take place in November.
Finland is currently home to just one EU agency, the Chemicals Agency, which is based in Helsinki and employs some 600 people.
Edit: Headline updated at 9.14 on 7 July, 2017 to reflect the fact that the EMA already exists and is to be relocated post-Brexit.