Country reports
At a special summit held in Brussels on 29 April 2017, Heads of State and Government of the EU-27 agreed to the guidelines for the forthcoming negotiations with the UK. Although the Member States and institutions had exchanged widely on the guidelines, the closure of the summit participants was surprising. After a few minutes and without any real discussions, the draft was approved. At the same time, however, the statements made by decision-makers on both sides of the English Channel made clear how different the views on the expiry and content of the exit talks are. The European Union and the United Kingdom are therefore likely to face very difficult negotiations. As a result of the controversial Hungarian Higher Education Law, there was also a discussion between the President of the European People's Party, Joseph Daul, and the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
