EU will decide on European Medicines Agency relocation tomorrow
It may be a cross between the Eurovision Song Contest, a papal conclave and a social club raffle but a ballot among EU ministers on Monday could hurt Europe's pharmaceutical industry and the health of millions.
It will fix the new home of the European Medicines Agency, which must leave London by 2019 when Britain leaves the European Union; most of its 900 staff may refuse to move to many of the 19 cities in the running, the EMA warns. Replacing them would delay drug approvals and patient safety checks.
Yet the result, diplomats agree, is utterly unpredictable; months of horse-trading on issues unrelated to healthcare will end up in hours of haggling between secret ballots in Brussels on Monday night. It could even come down to drawing lots.
"Nobody really knows what is going to happen," one diplomat said. "They will be locked there for hours ... You can try to secure some backing but it's a secret ballot and you have no way of checking whether what you agreed was honoured."
READ: Malta withdraws its European Medicines Authority bid
The fate of the 160-strong, London-based European Banking Authority (EBA) will also be decided at the meeting of EU affairs ministers from the other...