in Brussels In other news, EU leaders will discuss next week the vexed question of who speaks for Europe in talks on ending Russia’s war on Ukraine, following an angry rebuke from Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, about the “disorderly” process of meetings and phone calls.

Italy is not a member of the E3, the trio of the UK, France and Germany, whose representatives met officials from Ukraine, the US and international bodies in Brussels earlier this week. Nor was it involved in other initiatives, such as a phone call between Vladimir Putin and the leaders of Norway and Finland, Jonas Gahr Støre and Alexander Stubb. Meloni also highlighted an “informal” meeting between US, Ukrainian representatives, E3 national security advisers and European officials last month in Miami, which she said was only confirmed after the event by US sources. Italy, however, Meloni noted, is invited to a meeting of the so-called Berlin format – a larger group of countries, which is due to meet on the sid