Postwar Germany
GER/POL 474, Fall 2002
Tuesdays & Thursdays 2:30-3:45 in Chambers 123
An Interdisciplinary Seminar for Advanced Students

News and how to get it

You might think that this course is about German culture, society, and politics over the last 50 years. But the real purpose of the course is to turn you all into news junkies, and accordingly, informed citizens. We're serious. If the price of democracy is eternal vigilance, the news the is place to get your basic information. Spend an hour or so each day with the paper, and another several hours each week with journals and magazines and on the web.

First, subscribe to the daily German News: send e-mail to listserv@listserv.gmd.de; no subject heading, in the body of the message put SUB DE-NEWS firstname lastname; you'll get a confirmation e-mail and will need to click to confirm your subscription.German News is available in English or German. For German use SUB GERMNEWS firstname lastname.

Second, you will need to have a look at these papers regularly; they're all free though some require registration.

 

 


    Facts and figures
Eurostat
Don't be put off by its hectic appearance. This site provides lots of useful stats from the European Commission.
  European Commission Official Documents
Find key EU papers and an annual report of the commission's work here.
  Access to Europe
Web portal from the Stationery Office. Many key publications from Office for Official Publications of the EU, but you have to pay for most of them.
  European Information Network in the UK
Well designed site giving providing contacts, news and links.
  COI Communications
Useful searchable archive of press releases for all UK government departments.
  House of Commons Library: research papers
A must-read for anyone seeking a thorough briefing on major issues of the day. Much used by MPs.
  Transnational parties
Group of the Party of European Socialists
Professional, stylish, useful.
  Group of the European People's Party and European Democrats
Quite attractive with a few funny quirks.
  Group of the European Liberal, Democratic and Reformist Party
Put on your sunglasses or risk serious eye injury.
  Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Not the easiest site to get around but most of the right stuff is there.
  Group of the Union for a Europe of Nations
Nothing more than a contacts list.
  Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left
Could do better.
  Europe of Democracies and Diversities Group
Bilingual, but bland and boring.
  Group for a Europe of Democracies and Diversities United Kingdom
A very quick read - just three members.
  EU institutions
Europa
European government homepage.
  European Parliament
The information is there (lots of it) but the design makes it rather heavygoing.
  Committee of the Regions
Can't view without flash.
  Council of the European Union
Not the most scintillating of sites, but this is very informative.
  Court of Auditors
Unexpectedly arty site - makes the information look almost interesting.
  Economic and Social Committee
Bright, simple site. View forthcoming and past public hearings.
  European Commission
Basic format but packed with information.
  European Court of Justice
Poor design and many of the documents aren't available in English yet.
  European Central Bank
Check daily interest rates here. The site also houses the flash, glamorous Euro site.
  European Investment Bank
There are some colours on the homepage, but that's as spicy as things get.
  Commissioners
Michel Barnier
Regional Policy
  Frits Bolkestein
Internal Market
  Philippe Busquin
Research
  David Byrne
Health and Consumer Protection
  Anna Diamantopoulou
Employment and Social Affairs
  Franz Fischler
Agriculture, Rural Development & Fisheries
  Neil Kinnock
Vice-President, Administrative Reform
  Pascal Lamy
Trade
  Erkki Liikanen
Enterprise and Information Society
  Mario Monti
Competition
  Poul Nielson
Development and Humanitarian Aid
  Loyola de Palacio
Vice-President Relations with the European Parliament, Transport & Energy
  Chris Patten
External Relations
  Romano Prodi
President
  Viviane Reding
Education and Culture
  Michaele Schreyer
Budget
  Pedro Solbes Mira
Economic and Monetary Affairs
  Günter Verheugen
Enlargement
  Antonio Vitorino
Justice and Home Affairs
  Margot Wallström
Environment
  Leon Brittan
Archive of the site of the former Vice President of the Commission
 
    Pressure groups, unions and thinktanks
Britain in Europe
Good section on exposing all the straight banana euro-urban-myths.
  Centre for European Reform
European think-tank
  Free Britain
Anti-Europe site. Beautifully nationalistic.
  The Bruges Group
Stick that in your euro-sceptic pipe and smoke it.
  The European Policy Centre
Comprehensive and well laid out.
 
European media
The Week in Europe
A weekly summary of developments in the EU, issued each Thursday by the EC.
  Le Monde
France's leading daily newspaper - in French.
  Le Monde diplomatique (in English)
The Englishman's Le Monde. Basic format. Includes four year archive.
  Le Soir
Attractive site. French version only.
  Le Figaro
Very professional and easy to use, as long as you speak French.
  Libération
Paris daily newspaper in French.
  Süddeutsche Zeitung
Munich daily newspaper in German.
  Frankfurter Allgemeine (in English)
Well designed daily news site.
  The Bundesrat website (in English)
Generally easy to use and informative. The descriptions of each of the federal states are particularly cheesy.
  El Pais
Spanish daily newspaper (in Spanish). Looks a bit like an army site because of the camouflage colours.
  La Stampa
Well designed Italian daily.
  Corriere della Sera
A few distracting graphics, but otherwise a professional site, written in Italian.
  La Repubblica
A bit more garish than the other Italian newspapers.
  Aftonbladet
Slightly tacky-looking Swedish news site. No English version.
  The Moscow Times (English)
Well-laid out site with archive going back to 1994.
  Eurocritic
Eurosceptic web magazine
  Live Radio from Europe
From Romania to Yugoslavia.