Luxembourg — Richer western EU states locked horns with their poorer eastern peers on Tuesday over who should host the bloc’s London-based regulators for banking and drugs after Brexit. Several of the 27 remaining EU states have already signalled they could take on the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) — bodies that together employ more than 1,000 people. "This is a difficult discussion because for the first time since the Brexit decision, this theme is actually dividing the 27 whereas so far our strength in facing Brexit has been in our unity," one senior EU diplomat said. "Eventually it will be a political decision with a lot of horse-trading behind the scenes." Arriving at an EU ministerial meeting on the matter on Tuesday, Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn made a play for the EBA, saying his country was already a European financial hub. Germany and Ireland have already said they would apply to host both bodies, though diplomats s...
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