France and Germany in the European Union

This bachelor thesis deals with the question of leadership in the European Union. Its main objective is to assess the leadership of France and Germany in the EU based on identified criteria, focusing on their influence on European politics in the context of the Brexit crisis, which represents one of the most significant cases of disintegration in the European Union and which has posed several challenges for political actors, institutions and the EU as a whole. The first part of the paper defines the concept of leadership in the EU and identifies three main criteria for measuring it: power resources, common goals, and crisis management. The first criteria is power resources, representing institutional, material, and diplomatic resources. The second criteria is the definition of a common goal, and the third criteria is crisis management, which is key to regional stabilization and integration and overcoming collective action challenges in times of crisis. In the second part, all the criteria are interpreted using the case of the Brexit crisis, where the leadership of France and Germany is assessed and their importance in resolving this crisis. It also illustrates the effects of Brexit on their position in the EU and how this has affected European politics and the dynamics of EU relations. The thesis concludes with a summary of the results and suggestions for further research.