2 EU agencies to move out of UK

BRUSSELS: The European Union picked cities from two of its founding nations — France and the Netherlands — to host key agencies that will have to move once Britain leaves the bloc.

During voting so tight they were both decided by a lucky draw, EU members except Britain chose Amsterdam over Italy’s Milan as the new home of the European Medicines Agency and Paris over Dublin to host the European Banking Authority. Both currently are located in London.

“We needed to draw lots in both cases,” said Estonian EU affairs minister Matti Maasikas, who chaired the meeting and made the decisive selections from a big transparent bowl.

The relocations made necessary by the referendum to take Britain out of the EU are expected to cost the country over 1,000 jobs directly and more in secondary employment.

Some 890 top jobs will leave Britain for Amsterdam with the European Medicines Agency, giving the Dutch a welcome economic boost and more prestige. The EMA is responsible for the evaluation, supervision and monitoring of medicines.

EURO TUNNEL RENAMED

Eurotunnel is preparing for the post-Brexit era with a corporate rebrand, with the company being renamed Getlink.

The French company, which operates the Channel Tunnel, has chosen the admirably AngloSaxon name to“mark the group’s passage into an exciting new era for mobility infrastructures”. The change of branding will be only at group level, with customers looking to take its shuttle service between Folkestone and Calais continuing to book with Eurotunnel’s Le Shuttle service. AGENCIES