Premier Paolo Gentiloni
called for team work on getting the European Medicines Agency
back to Milan from Amsterdam as a European Parliament delegation
led by an Italian said the temporary home for the agency was OK
and the Dutch government said it would be up and running on
schedule Thursday.
The temporary home of the EMA in Amsterdam is OK and just
needs to be refurbished, the head of a European Parliament
delegation, Giovanni La Via, said Thursday.
"Palazzo Spark is a good building., the real issue is the
necessary timeframe for the refurbishments...but there are no
great needs," said La Via.
"Inside there is a well-equipped facility and all the
fundamental parts of the network installations are there.
"They just have to put in the beams and obviously bring the
supplies for the desks but that, having nine months ahead to
make everything complete, is viable".
Milan city council said its appeal against Amsterdam getting
the EMA was well-founded.
"It is well-founded and receivable, as the EU court itself
recently recognised," the council lawyer who filed the appeal
told ANSA, responding to rumours that the EU Council had judged
the appeal not to be valid.
The EU Council, he said, "has not rejected anything because
it does not have the power to do so, just as it does not
have any power to declare it unreceivable".
Milan's bid to get the EMA back from Amsterdam is "more open
than ever", Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said after the European
Council reportedly judged the bid "irreceivable".
"I had been expecting this opinion from the European
Council," he said, "but they can't decide whether an appeal is
receivable or not".
He said "the game is more open than ever, and I will raise
the stakes today."
Premier Paolo Gentiloni said Thursday the government and
Milan city council would work as a team on the appeal to bring
back the EMA from Amsterdam to Milan.
"I was in Milan yesterday and we agreed to work together,
without propaganda soundbites but working on its seriously," he
said.
The Netherlands said it was ready to host the agency saying
"yes we can".
"We will meet the deadlines, we will ensure it is
operational," said Deputy Premier Hugo De Jonge at a press
conference.
"We welcomed a delegation of MEPs here to Amsterdam today and
we can assure you that the Netherlands is ready to welcome the
EMA", he said.
"We will meet the deadlines and ensure the operational needs
of the agency, yes we can, yes we will," said De Jonge.
Lombardy Governor Roberto Maroni, meanwhile, called for "more
incisive action" by the Italian government.
"I expect more incisive action form the government which must
ask for the urgent convocation of the European Council, which is
the body that decided the appeal was unreceivable and which can
reverse its decision," he said.
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