The EU’s official website ‘The European Union online’ (http://europa.eu/) is a valuable starting point.  It provides further links to wide variety of official sites on EU policies, institutions, legislation, Treaties, and current debates.

Precisely because the EU’s website is so large, the Europa  Information Services website provides a nice index of where to find answers on the Europa website (https://europa.eu/european-union/index_en ).

You can also use the web to access the Official Journal (OJ) which is updated daily in several languages.  The OJ is the authoritative and formal source for information on EU legislation, case law, parliamentary questions and documents of public interest (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/).

For pithier reporting, the Economist (www.economist.com) provides useful general articles, while Politico (www.politico.eu) offers insider coverage of EU policies and news. 

To follow current events and developments within the EU, the following sites are useful -

• EurActiv reports EU current affairs with analysis, and has an easy to navigate system of ‘dossiers’, which provide an overview of different policy areas (http://www.euractiv.com).
• EUobserver offers coverage of EU current affairs with a very useful email bulletin service (http://euobserver.com/).
• Current debates and topics are also addressed in series of think tank websites. Some of the better known include the Centre for European Policy Studies (http://www.ceps.be); the European Policy Centre (http://www.epc.eu); the Centre for European Reform (www.cer.org.uk); the Trans European Policy Studies Association (www.tepsa.be); Chatham House (http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/); and the European Union Institute for Security Studies: http://www.iss.europa.eu/.
• Blogging and tweeting are now increasingly a part of daily life and should not be overlooked, though they may need to be treated with caution depending on their provenance. Valuable blogs include the University Association for Contemporary European Studies’ ‘Ideas on Europe’ Blog (http://ideasoneurope.eu/) and LSE’s http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/.
• You may also wish to subscribe to certain Twitter feeds, such as those of Federica Mogherini, Donald Tusk, the European External Action Service, the Council of Europe, the European Commission, the Centre for European Reform, etc. These accounts now provide very up-to-date insights into the daily activities of European institutions.
• There now also exists a plethora of regular podcasts on political issues, which may provide a source of entertainment and education. Options include DW’s ‘Inside Europe’ (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/inside-europe/id80106806?mt=2), Mark Leonard’s World in 30 Minutes by the ECFR (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/mark-leonards-world-in-30-minutes/id340460705?mt=2), and Politico’s EU Confidential (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/politicos-eu-confidential/id1244862657?mt=2).

You may also be interested in downloading Carnegie Europe’s new app, which provides regular analysis on all things Europe: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/strategic-europe/id721967150.