Press release – MEPs to quiz candidates for the seat of the new European Customs Authority

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The session will be held in two parts. The first part starts at 9.00 and includes four cities: Bucharest (Romania), Liège (Belgium), Lille (France) and Malaga (Spain).

The second part is scheduled to start at 10.45 and includes the remaining five candidates: Porto (Portugal), Rome (Italy), The Hague (Netherlands), Warsaw (Poland) and Zagreb (Croatia)

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.

The full programme is available here. 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. The Q&A session is a key part of Parliament’s internal procedure, allowing MEPs to properly scrutinise, evaluate and compare the candidacies ahead of the internal vote on Parliament’s preferred location.