Discord over whether the exit process could still be reversed surfaced at the summit as British Prime Minister Theresa May was preparing to brief the 27 EU other leaders on the early going of the Brexit negotiations that started this week. Tusk said that when British friends asked him if he could imagine a way for Britain to remain part of the bloc, he told them "that in fact the EU was built on dreams that seemed impossible to achieve." "For me, shaping the future of the 27 (remaining) member states has priority over the question of the negotiations with Britain on its exit," Merkel said.