European Union

Thomas Cooper Library is South Carolina's only depository collection for publications and information available from the European Union/ European Community. It has been an EU depository since 1976.

Most publications received as part of the European Union depository program are catalogued in the Library Catalog and are best searched by title or subject.

A. Official Web Sites

Europa (official site of the European Union)
Council of the European Union (Legislative branch)
European Parliament (advisory) Includes parliament session reports and minutes of proceedings.
European Commission (Executive branch)
European Union - Economic and Social Committee
Court of Justice of the European Communities (Judicial branch)
European Union in the U.S. (the European Union delegation to the United States).

B. Indexes and Databases

Official Documents and Legislation

CATDIFF: online publications catalogue of the Office of Official Publications of the European Communities. Select "Continue".
ECLAS: European Commission Libraries Catalogue with over 700,000 entries. Includes records of Internet resources on European integration.
EUR-Lex: Includes the Official Journal of the European Union (1998-); Treaties; Legislation; Legislation in Preparation; Case Law; Parliamentary Questions; Documents of Interest to the Public. Earlier issues of the OJ are in the Documents department.
Pre-Lex "the database on inter-institutional procedures follows the major stages of the decision-making process between the Commission and other institutions. PreLex follows all Commission proposals (legislative and budgetary dossiers, conclusions of international agreements) and communications from their transmission to the Council or the European Parliament right through to their adoption or rejection by the Council, their adoption by Parliament or their withdrawal by the Commission. Links allow users to access directly the electronic texts available."
Lexis Nexis Academic: Legal Research section includes CELEX (EU Legislation, 1979-), Treaties (1951-), Parliamentary Questions (1964-), Preparatory Acts (Abstracts, 1972-), National Provisions Implementing Directives (1989-) - (USC Affiliates only).

Other Topics

European Integration Online Portal: links to a directory of publications and other web resources on European Integration. The European Research Papers Archive and Archive of European Integration provide access to online European integration research.
Eurostat: the Statistical Office of the European Communities provides access to News Releases, Key Indicators, Eurostat News, catalogues, and the Statistics in Focus series. Depository password allows access to further publications.
PAIS Comprehensive bibliographic index covering international political, social and economic issues. (USC Affiliates only)

C. Research Guides

Background Information

European Parliament Factsheets: how the EU works, common policies, economic and monetary union, external relations.
The European Union: A Guide for Americans: basic introduction.

Detailed Research Guides

European Union Law: An Integrated Guide to Electronic and Print Research: research guide covering treaties, legislation, case law, periodical literature and more. Includes description of legislative process.
Researching the European Union: detailed research guide produced by the Delegation of the European Commission to the United States.
Web Guide: Europe on the Internet: providing substantive and bibliographical information about the people and policies, issues and institutions of the European Union, the wider Europe and related subjects.

D. News

RAPID: EU press release database.
EU Observer: news from the European Union.