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

Key Message

MEPs will question candidates for the new European Customs Authority to assess their ability to host its headquarters. During the exchange, MEPs will ask candidates to explain their infrastructure plans and demonstrate their capacity to support a centralised authority in an ever more complex trade environment.

Context

The session is organised in two parts, the first starting at 9.00 and covering Bucharest, Liège, Lille and Malaga, and the second starting at 10.45 covering Porto, Rome, The Hague, Warsaw and Zagreb, as part of Parliament’s internal procedure ahead of an internal vote on its preferred location. The EU is setting up the European Customs Authority under a major reform of the EU Customs Code; the agency is expected to coordinate future customs cooperation, ensure risk management and operate the Customs Data Hub, and its headquarters will be decided jointly by Parliament and the Council.

Implications

The session signals Parliament's intent to scrutinise and compare candidacies before it expresses a preferred location ahead of the joint decision on the EUCA headquarters.