Assessing What Brexit Means for Europe: Implications for EU Institutions and Actors

With the signing of the EU–UK trade and cooperation agreement in December 2020, the configurations of Brexit havestarted to become clearer. The first consequences of the UK’s decision to leave the EU have become visible, both in theUK and in the EU. This thematic issue focuses on a relatively under-researched aspect of Brexit—what the UK withdrawalhas meant and means for the EU. Using new empirical data and covering most (if not all) of the post-2016 referendumperiod, it provides a first overall assessment of the impact of Brexit on the main EU institutions, institutional rules andactors.ThearticlesintheissuerevealthatEUinstitutionsandactorschangedpatternsofbehaviourandnormswellbeforethe formal exit of the UK in January 2020. They have adopted ‘counter-measures’ to cope with the challenges of the UKwithdrawal—be it new organizational practices in the Parliament, different network dynamics in the Council of the EU orthe strengthening of the Franco-German partnership. In this sense, the Union has—so far—shown significant resilience in the wake of Brexit