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Sub-headings help make navigation relatively easy, though there is nothing like the same amount of information immediately available as there was in the previous incarnation of Europa.
Additional elements on the main page include: ‘Quick links’ for sectoral information and for the EU institutions; search and navigation options; contacts (interestingly, the much-promoted Europe Direct is nowhere to be seen, hidden as it is behind the link 'Questions about the EU?'); and located at bottom right, ‘More news from the Press Room’, which is a useful but easily overlooked shortcut.

Three prominent buttons on the right link to ‘news’, ‘features’ and ‘videos’. The default is news, meaning that the useful links under ‘features’ are not immediately obvious. As these include the current EU Presidency website, Treaty of Lisbon page and calendar, this isn’t a particularly helpful feature.

On the plus side, there is a general move to bring similar links together. This can be seen by following the ‘Documentation’ - ‘Legislation’ link, where a number of sections are displayed, including ‘Laws in force’, ‘Legislation in preparation’. The first of these includes links to the Directory of Community legislation in force, the Official Journal, Summaries of legislation, and the often-overlooked monthly summary of Council acts.
Similarly, the ‘Legislation in preparation’ section offers links to both OEIL and PreLex, as well as to the EUR-Lex page for COMdocs and the Directory of Community legislation in preparation.

There is also a ‘Legislative procedures explained’ section, which again groups together related but previously disparate materials. Very helpfully, the ‘Documentation’ - 'Statistics and opinion polls' link reveals not only Eurostat, but also Eurobarometer, ‘Key facts and figures about Europe and the Europeans’, and statistics from the European Central Bank.

In an effort to standardise both the look of Europa and navigation around the site, a menu is being introduced to sub-pages. The standard look can however be tweaked by choosing one of four available page colours (red, green, blue, or high contrast yellow/black) and playing with the font size.

Overall, once over the initial shock of the new layout, the updated Europa has much to commend it, though whether it will significantly improve the experience for occasional visitors only time - and feedback - will tell.

With Lisbon much in the news, Eric was asked ‘What is the Treaty on the functioning of the EU? Is it the same as the Treaty of Lisbon?’ His answer was:

Under the Treaty of Lisbon, the ‘European Community’ will disappear, to be replaced by the ‘European Union’. There will therefore no longer be the rather odd situation in which the EC and EU operate in parallel, and in which we invariably refer to the ‘EU’ when sometimes we should actually say ‘EC’.
Providing Lisbon is ratified, the current Treaty establishing the European Economic Community will be renamed the ‘Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union’. In an amended form, it and the existing Treaty on European Union (the Maastricht Treaty) will then constitute the EU Treaties. Both will have the same legal value and will together be referred to as ‘the Treaties’.
So, in short, the ‘Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union’ will be the current EC Treaty, so it will not be the same as the Treaty of Lisbon.