European Union and Turkey

About the European Commission

The European Commission is the EU's executive body and represents the interests of Europe as a whole (as opposed to the interests of individual countries).

The term 'Commission' refers to both the college of commissioners and the institution itself – which has its headquarters in Brussels, Belgium with offices in Luxembourg. The Commission also has offices known as 'representations' in all EU member countries.

Want to know about the EU and how it works? This site explains the purpose of the EU and how the various institutions work. It also covers EU finances, the Union’s legal foundations and its policies and activities.

The European Parliament is the only directly-elected body of the European Union. The 754 Members of the European Parliament are there to represent you, the citizen. They are elected once every five years by voters right across the 27 Member States of the European Union on behalf of its 500 million citizens.

The European Council defines the general political direction and priorities of the European Union. With the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon on 1 December 2009, it became an institution. Its President is Herman Van Rompuy.

The Court of Justice interprets EU law to make sure it is applied in the same way in all EU countries. It also settles legal disputes between EU governments and EU institutions. Individuals, companies or organisations can also bring cases before the Court if they feel their rights have been infringed by an EU institution.

The European Court of Auditors audits EU finances. Its role is to improve EU financial management and report on the use of public funds. It was set up in 1975 and is based in Luxembourg.

The premier business and management database providing extensive coverage of North America and the world.

Nearly every area of academic study including: computer sciences, engineering, physics, chemistry, language and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, ethnic studies, and many more.

This is the world's definitive scholarly business database, providing the ultimate collection of bibliographic and full text content.

Cambridge Journals Online (CJO) provides full text journals in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities since 1990 to present with reference linking via crossRef where applicable.

CIAO is the world’s most comprehensive electronic database for theory and research in international affairs. It publishes a wide range of scholarship, from 1991 onward, that includes working papers,papers from NGOs, books, journals and policy briefs...

OUP covers full text titles available online in Science, Social Sciences, Arts & Humanities, and Professional Studies. It has alert service that provides table of contents from all Oxford journals. Its archival access goes back to 1995.

Taylor & Francis Online’s portfolio of 1,600-plus journals deliver the very latest peer-reviewed research.

In June 2008, Wiley InterScience incorporated the online content formerly hosted on Blackwell Synergy to provide access to over 3 million articles across 1400 journals.

EUR-Lex provides free access to European Union law and other documents considered to be public. The website is available in 23 official languages of the European Union; choose your preferred language from the language bar at the top of the homepage.

The contents of the site amount to some 2 815 000 documents with texts dating back to 1951. The database is updated daily and every year around 12 000 documents are added.

Court of Justice of the European Union

Based in Luxembourg, this Court ensures compliance
with EU law and rules on the interpretation and
application of the treaties establishing the European
Union.