Hearings on AMLA’s future headquarters: Renew Europe will deliver guarantees for a fully transparent and fair selection process

Renew Europe welcomes today's official kick-off of the public hearings to decide on the Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA)'s future seat. Held at an extraordinary meeting of the ECON-LIBE committees, this is a historic process, as it is the first time that the Council and the Parliament will decide jointly on an equal footing on the future headquarters of a European agency.

Renew Europe, which has been co-rapporteur on the regulation establishing AMLA's competences and powers, will ensure that the selection process is flawless and scrupulously respects the criteria of transparency and equality at all times to allow the nine applicant cities to present their candidatures in front of MEPs and ambassadors from the Council. The final joint decision on the seat will take place at the end of February.

Renew Europe MEP Eva Poptcheva (Ciudadanos, Spain), Vice-Chair of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, ECON co-rapporteur on the regulation for establishing AMLA authority, stated:

“We are putting an end to the Council’s backdoor deals for the selection of the seat of new EU bodies. Nine candidates are in the running to host AMLA, and they all have an equal opportunity. During the public hearings next week, each candidate will be able to present and defend their candidature based on clear and objective criteria. It is a win for democracy."

Renew Europe MEP Ramona Strugariu (REPER, Romania), LIBE shadow rapporteur on the AML/CFT legislative package, said:

“We have solid criteria in place, a clear and transparent procedure which ensures fair competition between all candidates, this is what our citizens expect from us. May the best competitor win and take over with full responsibility the complex task of hosting one of the most important institutions of the Union, AMLA, which is today reality due to our joint efforts."

Next Steps

After the hearings, the final decision on the location of AMLA’s seat should be made by the co-legislators in the context of interinstitutional negotiations, where the Parliament’s and the Council’s representatives will vote together at the same time with the same number of votes attributed to each co-legislator. The location of the seat resulting from the process will be included in the AMLA regulation and formally adopted as part of the legislative text.