The  European parliament’s health committee on Monday voted in favour of the decision to relocate the European Medicines Agency from London to Amsterdam, despite the objections of some MEPs.

The vote means work can start on the construction of the head office of the prestigious EU agency in Amsterdam’s Zuidas business district.

One provision to head off concerns about the tight timetable for building the new office is that the Dutch government has to report on progress with the construction work every three months.

Italian MEPs wanted to block the EMA’s move from London to Amsterdam, arguing that the Dutch government had withheld crucial information about the new head office.

The EMA will have to move twice because the actual new premises in Amsterdam’s Zuidas will only be ready in November 2019.

The  full European parliament will vote on the legislation on Thursday. ‘That will be a formality,’ Dutch MEP Bas Eijkhout, who is a member of the health committee, told the Financieele Dagblad.