During the exchange, MEPs will ask the candidates to explain their infrastructure plans and to demonstrate their capacity to support a centralised authority in the context of an ever more complex trade environment.
In total, nine cities have responded to the call for applications and presented their bids. They are:
- Liège, Belgium
- Málaga, Spain
- Lille, France
- Zagreb, Croatia
- Rome, Italy
- The Hague, Netherlands
- Warsaw, Poland
- Porto, Portugal
- Bucharest, Romania
European Commission has already assessed their applications. Now the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection will hold a Q&A session with representatives of the candidate cities. This is an important step in the internal parliamentary procedure, allowing MEPs to properly scrutinise, evaluate and compare the candidacies ahead of the internal vote on Parliament’s preferred location.
You can watch the debate here. More information will be available on the committee website.
Background
The EU is setting up a new European agency – the European Customs Authority (EUCA) – in the framework of a major reform of the EU Customs Code. The agency is expected to coordinate future customs cooperation, ensure risk management and operate the new overarching customs IT system – the Customs Data Hub. The European Parliament and the Council will decide on the location of the EUCA’s headquarters jointly.
Discussion about this post