The European Parliament's website, Europarl, provides access to a collection of basic fact sheets for members of the public about the history, current organisation and policies of the European Union. The fact sheets are grouped under six main headings: How the European Community Words, Citizens' Europe, The Internal Market, Common Policies, Economic and Monetary Union and The Union's External Relations.
The EUobserver is an independent EU news service published by EUobserver.com. Professional users have to pay for a licence but it is free for private use on a home computer. There is a pay-per-view facility for premium content. The site contains reports written in-house on topical and specialised issues. The subjects covered are Political Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Economic Affairs, Social Affairs, Justice & Home Affairs, Defence, Enlargement and Institutional Affairs. Users can subscribe to a daily, twice-daily or weekly email newsletter.
This site was created by the European Parliament to provide information on its involvement in the Inter-Governmental Conference 2000, which paved the way for alterations to EU treaties so that new member states could join. In addition to archived news releases, it includes an overview of how EU treaties are revised and the role in this of the European Parliament. It also provides access to numerous full-text documents produced by the Parliament on this issue; they include parliamentary committee reports, resolutions, debates and speeches.
The Netherlands Institute of International Relations, sometimes known as Clingendael, is an independent research body which specialises in work relating to conflict, international organisations, the European Union, NATO and the United Nations. Its website provides access to information on its purpose and current research. It includes research reports on all aspects of international conflict and security worldwide and access to the Institute's library catalogue. All information is available in English.
This is the website of an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) programme which studied several areas of change and development within contemporary Europe. It ended in 2003. The programme aimed to examine " ... contemporary processes of political, security, economic, social and cultural change across the European continent, notably in relation to influences on convergence and divergence within and between European countries and prospects for integration and fragmentation." One Europe or Several?
Website of the Historical Archives of the European Union, which is based at the European University Institute in Italy. It consists substantially of bibliographic references to official documents produced by the major EU/EC institutions, including: the European Economic Community, the European Coal and Steel Community, the European Atomic Energy Community, the Council of Ministers, the European Commission and the European Parliament. Despite its name, however, it also covers archives relating to non-EU/EC bodies and archives acquired from individuals.
The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), formerly the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), is the EU body ressponsible for the uniform protection of trade marks and industrial designs. It maintains registers of trademarks and designs and has a role in the prosecution of infringements. The EUIPO website covers the legal framework and the remit of the Office and its Boards of Appeal, as well as an online registration facility, databases, publications, news and more.
The European Commission Press Release Database (sometimes known as Rapid) contains press releases, factsheets and other bulletins issued by the European Commission, as well as press releases from the Council of the EU, the Court of Justice and some other EU institutions (but not the European Parliament). It is managed by the Communication department of the European Commission. It includes all Commission press releases since 1985. The content is accessible without registration and RSS feeds are also available to all users.
The European University Institute was founded in 1972 by the European Community Member States to provide advanced academic and cultural training on a European basis. Its website offers information on the purpose of the Institute and details of its ongoing research. The site provides free access to the EUI publications repository, Cadmus, which contains bibliographic details of books, articles and theses and full text content of EUI working papers.
ARENA is a research programme focusing on developments in the governance of Europe. It is based at the University of Oslo. The website provides details of ARENA working papers from 1994 to the present, with links to the full text of many. Items published in the ARENA Reprint Series are listed without the full text. Information about the ARENA Report Series is also given, with some links to the full report. The site hosts the RECON Online Working Papers series on democracy in Europe; the full text of these is available. Details of seminars and other events are given.
