Thursday

1st Jun 2023

Sofia offers low-cost home for EU drugs agency

  • "Relocating EMA to Sofia doesn't mean sending the agency somewhere to the periphery. It means sending it to one of the oldest countries on our continent," said Bulgaria's deputy health minister. (Photo: Kaj17)

In the race to host the European Medicines Agency (EMA) when it leaves London after Brexit, Bulgaria has launched a low-cost campaign to prove that it could do just as well as the others - but for less money.

"Cost-effectiveness will be key," deputy minister of health Miroslav Nenkov said, while presenting Sofia's bid in Brussels on Tuesday (19 September).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

The Bulgarian capital says it will build the EMA seat in a high-tech park between the city centre and the airport, and offer a one-year rent-free lease to the agency.

The deputy minister insisted that "maintenance costs are much lower" in Bulgaria, where services such as internet and transportation are "fast and cost-effective".

For the promotional campaign - named "Sofia, the place to be" - the Bulgarians are spending "less than €50,000," Nenkov said.

Bulgaria, which will play a leading role when it takes the six-month EU presidency in January, is determined to prove that cheap does not necessarily mean bad.

"Sofia is becoming a business and digital city," said the city's deputy mayor, Doncho Barbalov, who added that it is one of the fastest-growing capitals in the world and attracts 54 percent of investments in the country.

Deficit of notoriety

But in a race that includes cities like Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Athens or Vienna, Sofia's bid also has to face a deficit of image and notoriety.

"It will be the biggest problem for the decision," Nenkov told EUobserver, admitting that "Bulgaria doesn't get good press in the EU."

But he argued that his friends who live there find it "nice, safe and cheap".

In any case, he noted that the "geographical spread" - the balance between member states hosting agencies - will be an important criteria.

Nenkov insisted that Bulgaria, a South-Eastern Balkans country that joined the EU in 2007, is the "most EU-optimistic" country and still does not host an EU agency.

"If the agency comes, it will be justice for my country," he said.

"Relocating EMA to Sofia doesn't mean sending the agency somewhere to the periphery. It means sending it to one of the oldest countries on our continent," he said,

"All offers deserve respect," he insisted. "We need to be positive."

Tailored building

Bulgaria also has to convince the EMA staff that they would benefit from moving from London to Sofia.

On the website set up for the EMA bid, Bulgaria defines itself as a "modern, tolerant and fast-developing society", where "60 percent of the workforce speaks more than one foreign language" and where taxes are at a flat 10-percent rate.

Nenkov and Barbalov said that Sofia airport has flights to 83 international destinations and that children of staff members can be educated in the already-existing foreign schools.

They promised a "really high level of staff security."

They also argued that since the EMA relies very much on the work of national experts in member states, "it's irrelevant where they are situated".

The Bulgarian government has also promised that the EMA building would be ready in January 2019 - two months before Brexit happens.

"We have the power and opportunities to finish the building for when EMA moves," Nenkov said, without giving any plans or details.

He promised that Bulgaria "can build this building absolutely tailored to the needs of EMA."

LGBT rights

Another issue for EMA staff is the status of LGBT people in Bulgaria, which is a country that doesn't recognise same-sex unions.

Nenkov said that "LGBTs are not discriminated" in the country and that "they can live together like families".

"We will not force partners to get out," he added.

Later this month, a Bulgarian government delegation will travel to London to meet EMA's chief, Guido Rasi, and staff representatives, to present their bid.

The European Commission is expected to publish its assessment of the 19 candidacies to host the EMA - as well as the eight bids for the European Banking Agency which is also leaving London - before the end of the month.

Then it will be up to EU countries to make a choice, after a process that many have compared to the Eurovision song contest.

Read more on EU agencies in EUobserver's 2017 Regions & Cities Magazine.

Click here to access EUobserver's entire magazine collection.

EU agency relocation race starts with 23 cities

Cities from 21 countries have applied to host the two London-based EU agencies, which will have to be relocated after Brexit, with Luxembourg throwing its hat in for the banking authority.

Magazine

Romania: We 'deserve' an EU agency

Deputy minister for European affairs highlights that Romania is 'the biggest country not having an agency', as one of the arguments to vote for Bucharest to host the medicines agency.

Bank agency shuns EU invitations

The EU's banking agency is not visiting cities that want to host the agency post-Brexit "to ensure objectivity". The medicines agency has no such qualms.

Column

What a Spanish novelist can teach us about communality

In a world where cultural clashes and sectarianism seems to be on the increase, Spanish novelist Javier Cercas (b.1962) takes the opposite approach. He cherishes both life in the big city and in the countryside.

Opinion

Poland and Hungary's ugly divorce over Ukraine

What started in 2015 as a 'friends-with-benefits' relationship between Viktor Orbán and Jarosław Kaczyński, for Hungary and Poland, is ending in disgust and enmity — which will not be overcome until both leaders leave.

Latest News

  1. Europe's TV union wooing Lavrov for splashy interview
  2. ECB: eurozone home prices could see 'disorderly' fall
  3. Adapting to Southern Europe's 'new normal' — from droughts to floods
  4. Want to stop forced migration from West Africa? Start by banning bottom trawling
  5. Germany unsure if Orbán fit to be 'EU president'
  6. EU Parliament chief given report on MEP abuse 30 weeks before sanction
  7. EU clashes over protection of workers exposed to asbestos
  8. EU to blacklist nine Russians over jailing of dissident

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  2. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us