A virtual capital for the European Union?

This article explores the websites of the key institutions of the European Union to consider whether these applications of the new information and communication technologies may become a functional equivalent of the national capital city in the emerging supranational political arena. Three functions of capital cities are evaluated: that of command centre, showcase and cultural arena. The websites under consideration do provide a representation of the EU command centre, and they also offer detailed information useful for those monitoring and partaking in the EU decision-making process. They are underused as supranational showcase, with the noticeable exception of their institutionalisation of multilingualism. And they do offer a rudimentary EU-wide public space. The findings suggest that there is a real potential that could be exploited by the EU institutions to foster the expression of the supranational community.