  The European Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA) is a multi-institutional,
multi-telescope collaboration, with the goal of using high-precision pulsar
timing to directly detect gravitational waves. In this article we discuss the
EPTA member telescopes, current achieved timing precision, and near-future
goals. We report a preliminary upper limit to the amplitude of a gravitational
wave background. We also discuss the Large European Array for Pulsars, in which
the five major European telescopes involved in pulsar timing will be combined
to provide a coherent array that will give similar sensitivity to the Arecibo
radio telescope, and larger sky coverage.
