Data sources and plain-language method

Current data status

Checking the latest source updates…

• Checking official sources…

The public status is deliberately simple. Internal configuration and operational diagnostics are not exposed on citizen-facing pages.

Primary sources

EU Democracy Hub uses public EU records and feeds, including EUR-Lex, Publications Office/CELLAR records, European Parliament procedure data, Council and European Council sources, European Commission pages, ECB publications, CJEU activity and Court of Auditors activity where available.

What “source-backed” means

A source-backed item has an official source URL, official identifier, procedure reference or public EU record behind it. We avoid presenting unsourced editorial examples as live EU activity.

If a page is educational rather than live, it should be labelled as an explainer and should not be presented as a current decision.

Plain-language summaries

Summaries are written to explain what happened, why it matters, who may be affected and what could happen next. They simplify language, but they do not replace the legal text.

How items are selected

We rank verified events by their likely effect on five parts of people’s lives: rights, money, work, safety and everyday services. Recency matters, but it does not make a minor technical update more important than a decision with a direct public effect.

Every highlighted item states why it was selected. Duplicate records are grouped, and technical notices stay out of headline positions until their meaning can be explained clearly.

The full story of a decision

Where the official record allows it, each main story explains what applied before, what changed, known support or opposition, what happens next and when people may notice a result. If a position or date is not verified, we say that instead of guessing.

Confidence and editorial review

High confidence means the event and its public effect are supported by a clear official record. Medium confidence means the event is verified but part of its practical effect is still developing. Context means the record is useful background rather than a completed decision.

Automation collects, groups and drafts explanations. The three to five leading stories in a weekly email must be approved by a human editor before a normal send can proceed. Every card shows whether it is automatically prepared or human reviewed.

Corrections and uncertainty

When an official source changes, the next refresh can update the summary. If a source is delayed or contains only old events, the public status shows that limitation instead of claiming that everything is current.

For professional, legal or financial decisions, always read the linked official record.

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Update rhythm

Live snapshots are refreshed from public sources. The weekly digest selects key source-backed updates from the recent window and turns them into a short civic briefing.

Archive, RSS and public feed

The searchable archive keeps the development of public stories over time. The same verified briefing is available through the RSS feed, a public JSON feed and an embeddable card for journalists, researchers and civic organisations.

These feeds carry the same importance ranking, source links and confidence labels as the website. They do not provide a different, less-checked dataset.

Accessibility and performance

We work toward WCAG 2.2 AA: keyboard access, visible focus, meaningful labels, sufficient contrast, usable zoom and screen-reader structure. Automated checks support this work but do not replace testing with people and real assistive technology.

Real-user performance follows the Core Web Vitals thresholds: LCP at or below 2.5 seconds, INP at or below 200 milliseconds and CLS at or below 0.1 at the 75th percentile.

External-link checks

Official-source links should be checked before major public presentations and after data refreshes. A working link may redirect to an official EU page; a broken, private or unrelated page should not be promoted as an official source.

Because EU websites sometimes change URLs, link checks are treated as a recurring quality task, not a one-time guarantee.

Fact-checking static examples

Static educational examples are kept separate from live source-backed updates. Specific claims about fines, judgments, ECB decisions or court calendars should be shown as live facts only when an official source is connected and checked.