Amsterdam EMA temporary home OK - La Via

(ANSA) - Amsterdam, February 22 - 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.