Malta said to be still in the running to host Medicines Agency

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Estonian diplomatic sources also confirmed that they would not make a bid, noting they would focus their effort on holding the six-month EU presidency, which kicks off in two weeks.

A Slovenian diplomatic source said their government in Ljubljana had officially not made a decision, but given that the criteria on relocation were discussed this week, and the expected deadline is 31 July, it is not likely that it will make a bid.

“We are a small country,” the source added, noting that it would be difficult for Slovenia to fulfil the requirements on the ground at short notice.

The modesty is notable since Slovenia and the Baltic nations are not the smallest EU countries, and some even smaller EU member states have announced that they want to provide a new home for one of the agencies.

The size argument was apparently not a decisive factor for Cyprus, Luxembourg, and Malta, which have fewer inhabitants altogether than Lithuania, Latvia, or Slovenia separately.

Luxembourg, which already hosts the European Investment Bank, the EU's translation services, offices of the European Parliament, and Eurostat, has argued that it has a “legal claim” to have the European Banking Authority.

The Grand Duchy pointed to a 1965 decision by the six members of the EU's predecessor, the European Community, saying that member state governments were “willing” to locate EU bodies in Luxembourg, “particularly those concerned with finance”.

The new host cities would not only need to host staff and the agencies' visitors, but also have an international school for the staff members' children.

The European Medicines Agency has a staff of around 900, and the European Banking Authority has almost 200.

Slovenia's capital Ljubljana already has enough trouble hosting the children of the 92 employees of the EU's Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators, which had been set up in 2011.

According to a European Parliament report adopted last April, the agency “has repeatedly signalled to the host member state the urgency of the establishment of an European School in Ljubljana”.

MEPs had “deplored” the fact that “more than four years after the entry into force of the agreement between the agency and the Slovenian government, no European School has been set up”.

The more than forty agencies are not evenly distributed across the EU.

Some countries making a bid for one of the Brexit agencies - such as Belgium, France, and Spain - already have four or more.

But the Baltic countries and Slovenia seem pleased with the agencies they have.

Lithuania, which hosts the 43staff European Institute for Gender Equality, is satisfied.

“We have one and we are happy with it,” said the Lithuanian source.

The agency in Latvia, the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications Office, has only 27 workers – although the European Commission recently announced that it wants to increase the staff to around sixty.

The Estonia-based European Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice, is somewhat larger – it has 140 members of staff.

After Tuesday's ministerial meeting in Luxembourg, the criteria for how to relocate the post-Brexit agencies are expected to be endorsed by EU leaders at today’s summit in Brussels.

The voting, expected for the October summit in Brussels, will take place as follows:

In the first round, each member state can choose a first, second, and third choice: a so-called positioning voting system, which is also used in the Eurovision song contest.

If one country is the first choice of 14 member states – a majority – then it wins.

If not, all first, second, and third choices will be added up: a firstchoice vote will receive three points, a second-choice vote two points, and a third-choice vote one point.

The three countries that have the most points will go through to the second round.

“In case of more than three offers receiving the highest number of points, all offers that have received the same highest score will go on to the second voting round,” the text said.

In the second round, member states have only one point to give out. Here, again, a member state wins if it receives 14 votes, otherwise there has to be a third round.

If there is a tie after the third round, the winner will be determined by "drawing lots between the tied offers".

Votes will take place in secret ballots. Member states will be sovereign in their decision, meaning that a country could still vote for a bid that, according to the commission's assessment, did not fulfil the criteria.

The attempt to arrive at “objective criteria” to determine the new location of the Brexit-affected agencies is laudable, but there is nothing to prevent bickering and an outcome determined by classic political horse-trading.