Italy showed "great teamwork" in its bid to host the European Medicines agency when Britain leaves the European Union and was "duped" by a coin toss that saw Amsterdam beat Milan in the final round of voting, foreign affairs minister Angelino Alfano said late on Monday.
"Three voting rounds with Milan always ahead, we were only duped at the coin toss,” Alfano stated.
"In any case, the campaign in favour of Milan expressed great teamwork on the part of team Italy at all levels, and put the limelight on Milan, on its dynamic business system and, in particular, on the private pharmaceutical sector, the flagship industry of Lombardy and of Italy on the whole," he went on.
The EU's 27 European affairs ministers, minus the UK, took less than three hours to decide the new home of the medicines agency, which employs 900 people in Canary Wharf, London.
Amsterndam won the EMA after a tie break that saw the winner selected by drawing lots from a large goldfish-style bowl.
