UK Office of the European Parliament
EP News, September 13th, 2005 (No. 227)
PARLIAMENT'S WEBSITE RELAUNCHED AT http://www.europarl.eu.int
The re-vamped central website of the European Parliament was formally launched this morning by the President of the European Parliament, Josep Borrell.
Under the slogan "457 million people have the same address: www.europarl.eu.int", Mr Borrell said the website aimed to reach a wider public than its predecessor, by making the European Parliament's activities more accessible to everyone.
The new site is divided into five sections:
* News
* Parliament
* MEPs
* Activities
* EP live
Each section is itself divided into information for the general public; experts and opinion formers; and an archive.
Under News, for example, the headlines page takes the reader to the top stories of the week; the press service takes journalists to briefings by theme and by date as well as information on who's who in the EP press team; the press archive allows for a trawl through previous press briefings and releases.
The EP Live section makes it easier to watch what's happening live in the European Parliament via webstreaming.
FROM THE OLD WEBSITE
Those who were used to searching for information on the old website will need to adjust their navigation slightly:
The Legislative Observatory (for searching background on a particular piece of legislation) is now to be found via the Activities section (icon on right-hand side of the main page).
* To search for Committee meeting documents: go to Activities; parliamentary business and then see the menu on the left-hand side of the page where "committees" should be clicked.
* To find a debate or text adopted in the full Parliament, go to Activities, parliamentary business and see the menu on the left-hand side under "plenary sittings".
* To find your MEPs, it is now possible to click by country and by region under Your MEPs.
The new website also comes with a powerful search tool. If, for example, you aim to find press releases or briefings on the Bathing Water Directive, type the words "bathing water" in the box on the top left-hand corner of the screen and click "OK".
Work is ongoing on our own UK Office website http://www.europarl.org.uk to adjust the links to the new central website.