EU in Brief
Includes brief history, flag, anthem, descriptions of the major organizations and processes of EU and links to further readings.
The EU is active in a wide range of topics, from human rights to transport and trade. Click on a topic title for a summary of what the EU does in that area, and for useful links to relevant bodies, laws and documents.
Legislation
The “Summaries of EU legislation” website presents the main aspects of European Union (EU) legislation in a concise, easy-to-read and unbiased manner. It forms part of the Europa portal, which is published by the EU institutions.
A list of all EU institutions and bodies such as the European parliament, the European Council, or the European Central Bank.
An overview of EU publications, reports, statistics and EU libraries.
European Foreign Policy Resource Guide
This resource guide focuses of the foreign policy of the EU. Each theme and area of EU external relations is divided into several specific topics for which academic literature, official resources, and other resources are available in the form of references or links to dedicated websites – leading to a unique set of thousands of sources.
Joint Research Centre's Publications
The JRC Publications Repository gives access to research results of the Joint Research Centre: Science-for-Policy reports, articles, technical reports and other scientific outputs.
The content grows daily as new publications are added to the repository.
The JRC Publications Repository is organised around the JRC Science areas
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Candidate Countries (These countries are in the process of 'transposing' (or integrating) EU legislation into national law) Potential Candidates (Potential candidate countries do not yet fulfil the requirements for EU membership:)
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Leads to information about all European nations. Includes political, economic, cultural, and social information with many links to other web sites.
Find a map and information about each country.
This resource provides "detailed and general information on all members of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe."
This resource provides information on the history, people and society, government, economy, energy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities.
In the EU's unique institutional set-up:
The European Council sets the EU's overall political direction – but has no powers to pass laws. Led by its President - currently Charles Michel - and comprising national heads of state or government and the President of the Commission, it meets for a few days at a time at least twice every 6 months.
There are 3 main institutions involved in EU legislation:
The European Parliament is a representative body elected directly by the people of the European Union (EU) member countries. Representatives serve five year terms and sit by political rather than national affiliation. The principal roles of the Parliament are: to examine and adopt European legislation (a power shared equally with the Council of Europe); to approve the EU budget; to exercize democratic control over the other EU institutions, with the power to set up committees of inquiry; and to assent to important international agreements such as the accession ofnew EU Member States and trade or association magreements between the EU and other countries.
Also informally known as the EU Council, it represents the governments of the individual member countries. The Presidency of the Council is shared by the member states on a rotating basis.
Not to be confused with:
The European Commission drafts proposals for new European laws and manages their implementation when approved by the Parliament and Council. The Commission also supervises expenditures and community adherence to treaties and European laws. The 25 members are nominated by their member governments and approved by the Parliament. They serve five year terms and are assisted by a large body of civil servants.
Together, these three institutions produce through the "Ordinary Legislative Procedure" (ex "co-decision") the policies and laws that apply throughout the EU. In principle, the Commission proposes new laws, and the Parliament and Council adopt them. The Commission and the member countries then implement them, and the Commission ensures that the laws are properly applied and implemented.
Two other institutions play vital roles:
The Court of Justice ensures compliance and uniform interpretation of the laws passed by the Parliament and Council. The 25 Judges and 8 Advocates-General are appointed by common accord of the governments of the Member States and hold office for a renewable term of six years.
The Court of Auditors checks that all the Union's revenue has been received and all its expenditure incurred in a lawful and regular manner and that the EU budget has been managed soundly. Established in 1977, the Court has one member from each EU country, appointed by the Council for a renewable term of six years. Even after enlargement there will still be one member per EU country but, for the sake of efficiency, the Court can set up "chambers" (with only a few members each) to adopt certain types of report or opinion.
The powers and responsibilities of all of these institutions are laid down in the Treaties, which are the foundation of everything the EU does. They also lay down the rules and procedures that the EU institutions must follow. The Treaties are agreed by the presidents and/or prime ministers of all the EU countries, and ratified by their parliaments.
The EU has a number of other institutions and interinstitutional bodies that play specialised roles:
Offers "results of legislative elections from more than 100 countries and regions in Europe. The parties are classified according to their political orientation. Historical data can be found in the archive."
Provides links to data archives
Provides information on registered European-wide political parties
This web page provides various links to sources of data on political parties and elections in Europe and worldwide. It is from Institutt for statsvitenskap (ISV) in Oslo, Norway.
Find EU case law, legislation, regulations, treaties, and policy studies
This is a guide to understanding EU law.
EUR-Lex - Access to European Union Law
"EUR-Lex is your online gateway to EU Law. It provides the official and most comprehensive access to EU legal documents. It is available in all of the EU’s 24 official languages and is updated daily."
"N-Lex provides a single entry point to the national law databases on individual EU member countries."
The Library of Congress provides links to the laws of nations of the world. This will include European nations not part of the EU. Also provides links to information on the constitution, legislation, courts, and the executive branch of government
ODS has full-text, born-digital UN documents published from 1993 onward, including documents of the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and their subsidiaries, as well as administrative issuances and other documents. The database also includes scanned documents published between 1946 and 1993, including all resolutions of the principal organs, all documents of the Security Council and the General Assembly Official Records.
The Working Paper series is a tangible representation of the scholarship resulting from the Emile Noël Fellowships. The papers will appear in a series of publications of The Jean Monnet Center, including this web site, which will serve as the online platform for the series. Launched in 1990 at the specific request of the academic world, the Jean Monnet Project aims to promote teaching in European integration, in particular in Law, Economics, Political Science and History – the disciplines where European Union developments are becoming an increasingly important part of the subject studied and where student demand is at its greatest.
Founded in Brussels in 1983, CEPS is a leading think tank and forum for debate on EU affairs, ranking among the top ten non-US think tanks.
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