European Social Partners

1. European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation and of Enterprises of General Economic Interest (CEEP)
http://www.ceep.org
CEEP represents the interests of enterprises with public participation or carrying out activities of general economic interest before the European institutions by promoting initiatives, formulating proposals and producing studies and opinions (for example, list of opinions at http://www.ceep.org/en/doc.htm). It plays an active role with regard to enlargement, through a permanent CEEC committee.

2. European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC)
http://www.etuc.org
ETUC represents European workers and has 59 million members. Its site includes, inter alia, press releases and reports, news articles and working documents.

· European Trade Union Institute (ETUI)
http://www.etuc.org/etui
Founded by ETUC in 1978, ETUI carries out research on topics of importance to trade unions and produces background reports. Its site includes research notes, publications (Infoletters, the journal "Transfer", reports) and a bibliographical reference database (ETUILIB).

· European Trade Union Technical Bureau for Health and Safety (TUTB)
http://www.etuc.org/tutb
Established by ETUC in 1989, TUTB has a clear, comprehensive website.

3. Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe (UNICE)
http://www.unice.org
UNICE is the mouthpiece of European companies; it covers all sectors and has 35 member-federations in 27 European countries. Its site includes news, publications, statements, newsletters, and so on.

4. European Confederation of Executives and Managerial Staff (CEC)
http://www.CEC-managers.org
CEC is the independent representation of the interests and specific preoccupations of 1.5 million employed managers at European level.

5. EUROCADRES
http://www.etuc.org/eurocadres
EUROCADRES, set up under the auspices of ETUC, represents more than 5 million professional and managerial staff throughout Europe.

6. European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (UEAPME)
http://www.ueapme.com
UEAPME is the employers' organisation representing the interests, at European level, of crafts, trades and SMEs in the EU and applicant countries. It has an enlargement task force.

European Community institutions and bodies

1. Committee of the Regions
http://www.cor.eu.int

2. Council of the European Union
http://ue.eu.int

3. Court of Justice of the European Communities
http://europa.eu.int/ci

4. Economic and Social Committee
http://www.ces.eu.int

5. European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (Bilbao)
http://europe.osha.eu.int
The Agency's site is a vast, constantly updated source of information on health and safety at work.

6. European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop)
http://www.cedefop.gr

7. European Commission
http://europa.eu.int/comm/index_en.htm
See in particular the "Directorates-General and Services" and "Official documents" pages. See also hereunder "A few Commission Directorates-General worth visiting".

8. European Council
To read the Presidency conclusions or access the Presidencies' sites:
http://ue.eu.int/en/info/eurocouncil

9. European Court of Auditors
http://www.eca.eu.int

10. European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Dublin)
http://www.eurofound.ie

· European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO)
http://www.eiro.eurofound.ie
The EIROnline site contains information and analysis on the most important events and issues in industrial relations in Europe. Studies, reports and bulletin, concerning, inter alia, enlargement.

11. European Investment Bank (EIB)
http://www.eib.org

12. European Parliament
http://www.europarl.eu.int
Publication:
"The social dimension of enlargement: social law and policy in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia" (04/1998):
http://europarl.eu.int/dg4/wkdocs/soci/en/default.htm

· Enlargement Task-Force
http://www.europarl.eu.int/enlargement/en/default.htm
A useful site, established in 1997. This European Parliament working group is responsible for following all stages of preparations for EU enlargement.

13. European Training Foundation
http://www.etf.eu.int
The Foundation wishes to contribute to the development of vocational training systems in the CEECs, the Independent States of the former Soviet Union and Mongolia. The site includes a "Candidate countries" section with publications (for example, the series of "background study" reports on employment and the labour market in the CEECs) (http://www.etf.eu.int/etfweb.nsf/pages/candidatehome).

14. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities (EUR-OP)
http://eur-op.eu.int/general/en/index.htm
N.B.: on http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex, EUR-Lex provides free access to the Official Journal for a period of 45 days following publication, together with the Treaties, legislation in force, etc.

15. Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat)
http://europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat