This panel examines the current state and challenges of EU politics. Citizens seem to feel more European and a large majority seems to be happy with various aspects of their life (Eurobarometer data), but the EU may need to deliver, in particular at the economic level and towards future life expectations. The EU has a significant impact on people’s life and when some benefits are under threat, this can determine identification and support, as engagement and participation, and slowdown the process of EU integration. The recent economic and financial crisis, the refugee crisis and the recent British referendum vote view a new wave of opposition to the EU project and contested outcomes at the national level. After Brexit, where is the EU heading? How do member states react after years of economic and financial crisis? Dramatic shifts in the transnational movement of people and the demographic profile of European societies are intersecting to create new challenges for European politicians and citizens. The drift towards right-wing populism and the revival of nationalism are destabilizing democratic political institutions. These transformations are posing difficult problems and call for other major changes that deliver sustainable solutions. This panel examines the challenges across policy cooperation in the higher education sector, the changing narratives among the European political elites in the European Parliament and public opinion. If there is crisis, this panel seeks to examine, as Paul Taggart and Aleks Szczerbiak propose (2014), what kind of crisis this is and what next after Brexit.