Barcelona eliminated in vote to choose new host for EMA

Barcelona has been eliminated in the first round of voting to choose a new site for the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The voting to find out which European city will host the EMA began on Monday afternoon, with Milan, Amsterdam and Copenhagen all getting through the first round.

The elimination may come as a severe blow for the Catalan capital, which was considered a strong candidate to win the bid to host the agency. With stiff competition from all over Europe, Malta, Croatia and Ireland all withdrew their bids before the voting began on Monday.

Political situation weakened the city’s bid

The British newspaper Financial Times has claimed recently that some other cities, such as Bratislava or Milano, are now ahead due to Catalonia's political situation. According to the British newspaper, the increasing political clash of wills between Catalonia and Spain in the past few weeks might have weakened the city’s bid.

A secret ballot

The headquarters of the EMA is being decided with a secret ballot vote. In a first round, each country had to support three candidates. If any of the candidates won three points more than half of the countries, then it won by an absolute majority.

If that does not occur - which is the case, currently - the three cities with the highest number of votes participate in a second round, in which each country will award a single point to their preferred candidacy. If any city receives 14 points, it will have won. If not, there will be a final round between the two cities with the highest scores.