New Generation Europa, May 2002

Work has been in hand for some time now to develop a second generation Europa (E2G) to meet the demands of eEurope as well as conform to the latest technical standards. Basic to the new strategy is a standard cohesive approach using a new template with the language options at the top. Users will have already seen a number of the re-designed pages which follow this pattern. Instead of lone webmasters following their own approaches, a web content management system is being introduced and pages must be WAI compatible to take account of users with disabilities. However there is much more to the changes than simply to provide a fresh look. No longer is Europa just a means of publishing information. The new Europa must address not only this original aim - and enable users to retrieve better organised information more consistently - but also meet the demands of eEurope developments to allow citizens of the EU to express their views on current affairs and to transact business with Commission services online. 2002 should see the first steps in that move from passive through interactive to transactional mode. Prime candidates for advanced online e-services are areas such as tenders and recruitment, and the first e-services are expected to be up and running by December 2002.

Tackling such a major re-design is a daunting task as Europa is a huge multilingual site. Statistics show that in March 2002 it received 59,384,101 document hits and approximately 260,000 external sites point to it. As a result of the on-going enlargement negotiations, the current number of languages in use may increase to 18 or 19 in the near future. It is vital that the re-vamp is carried out before that happens, but the issues of multilingualism need to be addressed in the planning.

Expected shortly - the target date is Europe day on the 9th May - is a total revision of the Commission home page to take a themed rather than functional approach. The French prototype has been demonstrated and essentially has the information in three columns with news and links on the left, policy themes in the centre, and Commission structure and contacts together with information sources on the right. The left frame will aid navigation through the site. The aim is to provide easy standardised access to different levels of information - short, to give a brief outline or summary; latest, to report the most up to date developments; and in-depth for those who require much more detailed information. The policy approach will be developed through the creation of thematic portals which will link related information and offer different access routes, e.g. regional policy and environment, or regional policy and culture. The new Europe and Culture portal at http://europa.eu.int/comm/culture/index_en.htm is one example of the new strategy, while the new Inforegio site at http://europa.eu.int/comm/regional_policy/index_en.htm also gives a strong flavour of the portal approach.

It has been acknowledged that the EU News section has not worked satisfactorily as it is organised at present. No longer will each institution's press releases have to be scanned separately. Information professionals will welcome the news that all institutions are to send their press releases to the Commission for inclusion in the RAPID database so that it will be possible to search systematically across the board. The Press Room page which fronts RAPID is split in two: the top half will be automatically updated every fifteen minutes with press releases from all sources; the bottom half will be manually updated. The new content is already reflected in RAPID at http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh with all but the European Parliament press releases now included. The Press Room (see http://europa.eu.int/comm/press_room/index_en.htm`) also now provides electronic press packs which gather collections of key documents to brief journalists on issues such as the euro and the Convention on the Future of Europe.

Europa currently uses the Verity search engine. Consultation has taken place about an upgrade and a decision has been made on a more sophisticated search engine which will function across all the EU sites, not just Europa and EUR-Lex. A prototype is expected before the summer. Improvements in search results will also be warmly welcomed.