EU agency fears plan to move Amsterdam ‘mega-brothel’ near headquarters

Watchdog that quit London after Brexit highlights fears over drug-dealing, drunkenness and rowdy behaviour

(AFP via Getty Images)

The EU’s medicines watchdog is objecting to plans to build a mega-brothel near its Amsterdam base.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA), which left London for the Netherlands after Brexit, warned in a statement that it was concerned that the multi-storey “erotic centre” would attract drug dealers and unruly visitors.

The behaviour of drunken and rowdy tourists, as well as drug sellers, have caused misery for residents in Amsterdam’s city centre, prompting authorities to plan to move the legal red-light district away.

Crime and overcrowding have grown worse in the canalside paths and narrow lanes of the area.

The planned new complex will include about 100 “work spaces” for sex workers, as well as bars and entertainment.

Three possible new locations have been proposed, including the southern Zuidas district, where the EMA has its headquarters. It is near large hotels and the city’s financial district.

A spokesman for the medicines agency said: “The change of the location of the red-light district is motivated by concerns of nuisance, drug-dealing, drunkenness and disorderly behaviour.

“Locating the erotic centre in close proximity to EMA’s building is likely to bring the same negative impacts to the adjacent area.”

It said its deal with the Dutch government guaranteed the “security and tranquillity” of its offices.

Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema says she wants to reduce the influence of organised crime and improve the situation of sex workers.

Last year, she told The Observer: “I hope it’s possible to create an erotic centre that has some class and distinction and isn’t a place where only petty criminals and the most vulnerable women gather.”