EUROPEAN UNION LAW
W.B. Fisch

Some Websites of Interest
(Last Updated Aug.17, 2007)

  • The European Union is on-line in a big way. The master site in English is called Europa. It contains links to news services, basic information and documentation (including legal documents), the individual institutions of the Union, and to information on specific policies. Among the more interesting sites of the major institutions as that of the European Parliament, the only popularly elected body.  The work of the judicial arm, the European Court of Justice, can also be followed on a case-by-case, essentially day-by-day basis on its site.
  • Among the most interesting current events involving the EU are still those that have to do with enlargement  (which expanded the membership of the EU from 15 to 27 in stages (Romania and Bulgaria the most recent in 2007), with Turkey and Croatia in negotiation), and the associated Constitution project (which aims at transforming the current foundational treaties into a Constitution more explicitly recognizing the supranational character of the EU system, and which has been revived in somewhat different form this year after rejection by referenda in France and the Netherlands in 2005).
  • The comprehensive official site for legal documentation is Eur-lex. It contains links to the Official Journal (analogous to Statutes-at-Large and U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative Service combined), the governing treaties, legislation in force by topic, and case law.
  • The European Research Papers Archives contains links to several collections of research papers (not published elsewhere) on various aspects of European integration, including law.
  • The Jean Monnet Program directed by Prof. Joseph Weiler, now centered at NYU Law School and at the European University, can serve as an entry-point to the on-line literature and documentation.
  • The University of Missouri-Columbia has one of fifteen European Union Centers in the United States, initially financed by the European Commission; its page contains information about its program, as well as links to the other Centers and other useful information about the EU generally.