In the end, all roads lead to Rome. But who gets there first? And, most importantly, who leaves triumphant? The answer was known long before the Prime Minister found himself stranded in the Eternal City to meet his Italian counterpart and EU partner, as slowly as in vain. In the city of Colosseum, he seemed to be meeting with the lions in the arena rather than with Meloni, who had already done with Erdoğan what she was going to do: she had put Turkey through the window in the debates on the future of the European Union. The European Union has been involved in a number of important negotiations with the United States, the European Union’s new defence spending and has had advanced defence, economic and energy discussions with the EU, roughly at the level of an alliance. And they didn’t hide it. They’re all screwed. But Mitsotakis has a habit of pretending not to understand things that don’t suit him. So he came back, he says… a winner, because the Italians are gonna throw money at the trains.