This article explores recent politics of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) by focusing on the examination of the continuing involvement of France and Italy in it, which are two – of the EHEA’s founding countries. The study reported in this article is built on a theoretical observation that higher education is political. It relies on expert interviews with representatives from key policy-making institutions in France and Italy, and key recent EHEA official communications. The thematic analysis of these data sources reveals that the EHEA is not just a forum for higher education cooperation, but a political platform for cross-country relations in the European region and a platform for generating responses to crises. Additionally, specifically, France’s and Italy’s continuing involvement in the EHEA has a particular political undertone dictated by the internal politics of both countries and the evolving politics of the EHEA. This study contributes to a better understanding of the political nature of the EHEA and its implications for higher education policy outcomes.