Useful contacts | Online directories | News | Contracts, grants and funding | Bibliographic databases | History of the EU | Legislative process | Transposition to national law | EU Institutions | Statistics | Online journals | Blogs and social media
Useful contact points
Europa information sources:
- Institutions - contact points within EU institutions and agencies
- Whom to contact - local contact points for EU information in the member states
EU Who is Who - the online version of the interinstituional directory of the European Union, searchable by personal name, organisation and position.
European Information Network - this web site brings together contact details for organisations and individuals in the UK that provide EU information and advice to the general public, business and the academic community.
Take Part - Have your say! Join an online debate, take part in a public consultation or check out and comment on blogs and video clips.
Your voice in Europe - the European Commission's single access point to a wide variety of consultations, discussions and other tools that enable citizens to play an active role in the EU's policy-making process.
Online directories, portals and gateways
Britain in the European Union - Foreign and Commonwealth Office guide to Britain in Europe
ERAWatch - provides information on national research policies, structures, programmes and organisations, covering 37 countries, courtesy of the European Commission's Directorates General for Research and Joint Research Centre- Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS)
EURES Portal - provides information, advice and recruitment and placement services for EU citizens wishing to benefit from the principle of the free movement of labour.
Europa - official internet gateway to the European Union. One of the best ways to search the site is through Search Europa.
Europe Direct - provides information about EU policy, advice on practical issues such as how to obtain a residence permit, and contact details for organisations.
Europe in the UK - national online directory of sources of information on all aspects of the EU
European Documentation Centres joint home page - site aims to help researchers and students to find reliable information about the European Union on the Internet, from both official and non-official sources.
European Documentation Centres: online repositories of EU information sources - provides an introduction to and contact details for four European electronic repositories: ArchiDok, European Sources Online, Ketlib, and Portuguese European Gateway.
European Union Internet Resources - site hosted by the University of Berkeley in California providing a comprehensive gateway to EU-related Internet sites.
Register of Interest Representatives/Lobbyists - Register of Interest representatives of the European Commission and List of Lobbyists accredited to the European Parliament.
Your Europe Portal - information for citizens and business.
News and current awareness sources
BBC European News Pages - latest news updated constantly
EU for Journalists - provides useful information dossiers on a range of subjects such as the Elections 2009 and the EU in the World, plus a contacts list, recommended reading and press releases
EU Observer - an independent online news service providing up-to-date coverage of the European Union.
EU Press Room - has daily press releases and details of the meetings of all the European institutions. It includes the Rapid database which archives most official press releases from 1985.
Euractiv.com - news on EU policy developments from an independent provider
Euranet - the European radio network keeps you informed about what is happening in the continent from a pan-European perspective through programmes in eight languages.
Euronews - More EU and international news from an independent provider
European Journal - reports on important political, economic and cultural developments in the EU with a strong focus on the European integration process. European Journal features issues that move Europeans and shows Europeans on the move
European Voice - independent news and analysis of developments in the EU
Presseurop - newspaper reports from all EU countries, translated into English, plus briefings on topical issues and a blog.
Week in Europe - an in-depth look at the political and social events shaping Europe from a French viewpoint
Contracts, grants and funding
Beneficiaries of European Union Cohesion Policy - at national, cross-border and transnational levels.
CORDIS - Community Research and Development Information Service - offers access to EU research and development funding programmes, information on potential partners and previous and ongoing projects.
Contracts and Grants of the European Union - the EU awards grants in order to fund projects and activities which implement EU policy. It also uses public contracts to buy in goods and services. This site presents a list of European policies in favour of which contracts and grants are awarded, with additional information on specific programmes and the application process and a list of beneficiaries.
CultureFund - how to apply for grants from the European Commission's Culture Programme
European Commission Financial Transparency System - you can find the names of beneficiaries of grants and other forms of support awarded every year by the Commission.
European Small Business Portal - Includes information about grants and public contracts for small and medium-sized enterprises
Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) - Business opportunities published in Supplement S of the Official Journal of the European Union.
Bibliographic databases and guides
ArchiDok - started in 2003 as a long-term project of German and Austrian European Documentation Centres with the following aims:
- Archiving of electronic full texts of relevant Organs and Institutions of the European Union for all policy areas
- Recording and indexing of the collected documents
- Development, update and presentation of a database of full texts with a direct access to archived EU online publications.
Official Documents from EU Institutions on Europa gives details of the publications of all the European institutions together with links to online versions. It includes green and white papers from 1996 and gives access to the document registers of the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, the European Commission, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. Registers can include both published and unpublished documents. In some cases the full text of documents is directly accessible from the registers. In other cases only a brief citation is supplied and the document must be requested.
Comitology Register - documents relating to the work of the committees assisting the Commission with implementation of legislation.
DORIE - Dorie is intended for a specialised audience interested in European institutional matters. It is a collection of documents put together over the years by the European Commission for its own purposes. The documents concern EU institutions and decision-making processes, and various intergovernmental conferences (including the 2002-03 constitutional convention) that have made changes to the founding treaties. Dorie contains legal acts, minutes of meetings, articles and press releases, speeches by European leaders and internal Commission working documents and notes.
Easy Reading Corner - access to booklets and maps that explain, as simply as possible, what the EU is and how it works.
ECLAS - European Commission Libraries Catalogue, containing about 350,000 records, including links to e-documents and Internet resources.
EU Bookshop - an online service that gives access to publications from the EU institutions, agencies and other bodies online. It allows users to search for publications by keyword, author and theme, to download copies in pdf format, and where possible, to purchase print. The site now contains all official EU publications issued since 1952.
EUROCAT - Index to EU documentation covering the period 1985-2000, EUROCAT consists of CD-ROM available from the Enquiry Desk for Workstation 1 in the Social Sciences Reading Room.
The European Union: a Bibliography - Extensive bibliography of works in English and French on the European Union, covering primary and secondary sources. Subjects covered include general history, the EU and member states, European law and treaties, the EU institutions, policy-making and policies, external relations and the common foreign and security policy.
European Sources Online - An online database which provides access to information on the institutions and activities of the European Union, the countries, regions and other international organisations of Europe, and on the issues of importance to European citizens and stakeholders. It provides access to thousands of expertly selected, well known and less well known websites, documents and publications from the EU and other international organisations, national governments, think tanks, stakeholder organisations, working papers etc, full text articles from authoritative news sources Financial Times and European Voice, plus bibliographic records to key academic textbooks and periodical articles, and a series of unique Information Guides compiled by the ESO Editorial Team This is a subscription-based resource which can only be accessed from the reading room.
Publications Office of the EU - Offers access to the Publications Catalogue and links to all the databases
History of the EU
Archive of European Integration - the AEI is an online repository and archive of research materials on European integration. It contains both independently produced research and EU documents.
European Navigator - presents the history of European integration from 1945 through full text documents, journal and newspaper articles, sound recordings, film clips, photographs, cartoons interviews and letters.
The Historical Archives of the European Union - held at the European University Institute in Florence
European Union History - site run by the University of Leiden offering access to a wide range of historical documents in full text and links to all the major organisations involved in European integration.
EU legislative process and legal databases
Better Regulation - the EU's Better Regulation policy aims at simplifying and improving existing regulation, better design of new regulation and reinforcement of the effectiveness of the rules
Company law and corporate governance - has official reports and legislation from the EU
Competition Directorate - has texts of all competition legislation and decisions
Curia - the European Court of Justice web site gives access to the Proceedings (weekly summaries of judgements and opinions) from 1996 and full text of judgements and opinions from June 1997., searchable by case number and party name. Reports are also available online via Westlaw.
Data protection - In order to remove potential obstacles to cross-border flows of personal data between EU member states and to ensure a high level of protection within the EU, data protection legislation has been harmonised
Directory of Community Legislation - access to legislation in force in particular policy areas
Electronic commerce - legislation and reports from the EU
EU Consumer Law Compendium - site provides the text of eight consumer law directives, their transposition into the laws of 25 member states, case law, a bibliography and a comparative study
EUR-Lex - the key portal to legal and judicial materials of the EU updated daily. It includes the Official Journal from 1998, treaties, legislation in force, legislative proposals, and case law with extensive search facilities.
Eurolaw - covers in full text all the Treaties of the EU; the Directives and Regulations; Proposed legislation; Case Law; National Implementation details; Parliamentary Questions; and information and notices from the C series of the OJ. This is a subscription-based resource which can only be accessed from the reading room.
European Council on Refugees and Exiles - legislation, proposals and informed comments on refugee and asylum law
European Criminal Law Academic Network - ECLAN is the result of a project led by the Institute for European Studies at Université Libre de Bruxelles, part-funded by the European Commission under the AGIS programme. Its objective is to promote academic research and education on the field of European criminal law. The website contains a detailed database of legal instruments (e.g. documents concerning the Stockholm Programme, draft and adopted Directives, cases from the Court of Justice), plus relevant publications (books and journal articles).
European e-justice portal - an electronic one-stop-shop for access to justice throughout the EU. The web site benefits citizens, businesses, lawyers and judges with cross-border legal questions. With more than 12,000 pages of content, the portal provides information and links on laws and practices in all Member States. For example, the portal offers information on legal aid, judicial training, and videoconferencing in cross-border cases. There are links to legal databases, and online insolvency and land registers.
European environmental law - full text cases, legislation and other documents related to European Environmental Law. The site hosts very useful dossiers on specific subjects, including Francovich follow-up on state liability for breaches of Community law
European private law - offers a comprehensive overview of all secondary Community law relevant to private law scholars and practitioners as well as an introduction to the most relevant ECJ cases to date
Impact assessment - the European Commission increasingly carries out "impact assessments" before launching a legislative proposal to measure the potential economic, environmental, social and administrative costs.
OEIL, the Legislative Observatory - European Parliament site which monitors the progress of proposed legislation (directives and regulations), with links to all primary documents associated with proposals and initiatives. Useful summaries of each stage reached in the policy-making process are provided.
Pre-Lex - the database of inter-institutional procedures follows the major stages of the decision-making process between the Commission and the other institutions. As well as links to primary documents, Pre-Lex offers additional links to secondary materials, e.g. press releases.
Summaries of Legislation - offers summaries of EU legislation in key policy areas, with links to most important primary documents.
Treaties Office Database - the database contains all the bilateral and multilateral treaties or agreements concluded by the European Community, the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC) and the former European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), and those concluded under the Treaty on European Union. Agreements signed but not yet in force are identified by an asterisk (*).
Your voice in Europe - the European Commission’s single access point to a wide variety of consultations, discussions and other tools that enable citizens to play an active role in the EU’s policy-making process.
Transposition into national law
N-Lex - this new service allows you to search national legislative websites using a common search page
TAIEX - for countries that joined the EU in 2004 and later and applicant states, national implementing legislation can be found in TAIEX.
Transposition of Financial Services Action Plan Directives - provides links to member states' legislation implementing directives in this field - a model site in a limited field.
European Union institutions
European Council - defines the general political direction and priorities of the European Union. With the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon on 1 December 2009, it has become an official institution. The web site includes Council meeting documentation, i.e. papers submitted, background notes and a link to the President's web pages
Council of the European Union - information on the Council's role and policies, with supporting documentation. The Register of Council Documents contains references; those which have been released to the public are available in full text.
- Presidency websites
- Presidency conclusions: Archived Council site, 1993-2009
- Presidency conclusions: European Parliament site, 1985-2006
- Departments (Directorates-General) and services - On this page, each DG is classified according to the policy it deals with. The Commission services deal with more general administrative issues or have a specific mandate, for example fighting fraud or creating statistics.
- Audiovisual Services - offer video, photo and sound coverage of European news
- Commissioners' websites
- Civil Service
- Budget
- Work programme
- Transparency Initiative - addresses the challenge of bringing the EU closer to European citizens. The site includes links to documents registers, register of experts, consultation standards, grants lists, etc.
- European Citizens' Initiative - From April 2012, the ECI will allow 1 million citizens from at least one quarter of the EU Member States to invite the European Commission to bring forward proposals for legal acts in areas where the Commission has the power to do so
European Commission Representation in the UK - site has news, Euromyths, and contact details for all EU information providers supported by the Commission.
European Parliament - the web site includes debates, minutes, reports, common positions, texts adopted, consolidated legislative documents, Parliamentary Questions, etc. There is also:
- Factsheets on the European Union, covering all aspects of EU policy.
- UK Office - includes a directory of UK MEPs, an analysis of election results from 1999 onwards and full text booklets about the work of the European Parliament.
European Court of Auditors - reports of independent audits of the EU's collection and spending of funds.
European Economic and Social Committee - activities, documents and opinions of the Committee.
The Committee of the Regions - details of the work and publications of the committee.
European Central Bank - web site offers statistical releases, the Monthly Bulletin, Annual Report, Convergence Report and research, occasional and legal papers.
European Investment Bank - the bank finances, on favourable terms, projects which advance the objectives of the EU. Documents available on the site include thematic reports, project evaluations, country fact sheets, technical reports and economic studies.
European External Action Service - acts as the Foreign Ministry and Diplomatic Corps of the EU, working under the authority of the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The website includes speeches, statements, policy outlines and information on EU activities worldwide
Agencies of the EU - links to the web sites of EU specialist agencies divided into four categories: Community Agencies, Common Foreign and Security Policy Agencies, Police and Judicial Cooperation Agencies, and Executive Agencies.
European statistical information
Eurobarometer - public opinion and attitude surveys
Eurostat - free access to all publications and data
Statistical Data Warehouse - economic and financial indicators supplied by the European Central Bank
European Studies online journals
EIROnline - monitors developments in European industrial relations
European Integration Online Papers - the only peer reviewed E-journal in the field of European integration.
Journal of Common Market Studies - covers all aspects of European integration
Journal of Contemporary European Research - the JCER is devoted to promoting original research and insightful debate in European Studies by publishing academic articles, commentary pieces, policy analysis and book reviews across the fields of European Politics, Law, International Relations, Economics and Sociology.
Blogs, new and social media
Blogactiv - a blog platform dedicated to European affairs developed by EurActiv.
Bloggingportal.eu - brings together the content of 782 political blogs relating to the EU
European Commission UK Representation blog
European Public Policy Blog - Google's views on government, politics and policy in Europe.
Europa EU Blogs - several EU Commissioners and their senior staff have their own blogs
Writing for (y)EU - this is the collective blog of the Web-team of the European Parliament. It is NOT an official European Parliament website.
Grahnlaw - Legal adviser and speaker Ralf Grahn writes about EU law and politics
EU Tube - The European Commission uses video to communicate with the public
Connect with EU on Social Networks - Links to official accounts set up by EU offices, agencies and institutions on social networking sites
Europatweets - all members of the European Parliament on Twitter gathered in one place
European Information Association on Twitter - Get short, timely messages from Eric Davies!
Waltzing Matilda - news and observations on the use of social media by the Commission
Webcast Portal - Online video recordings of conference presentations
TVlink Europe - European features service for TV professionals
