POLITICO reviews ‘The Diplomat’ — Meloni surprises Brussels — The key to Ukraine’s victory

As the EU defense industry gets the green light to ramp up ammunitions production, we hear from former Commanding General of U.S. Army Europe Ben Hodges on why Crimea holds the key to a Ukrainian victory. We also ask why Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government in Italy is struggling to spend EU recovery funds in time — yes, you read that right, and find out what European diplomats think of Netflix series “The Diplomat.”

This week our host, Suzanne Lynch is joined by POLITICO’s Senior EU Reporter Jacopo Barigazzi to take stock of Meloni’s first six months in office — including her surprisingly pragmatic relationship with Brussels and her struggles to provide concrete spending plans for the billions of euros of EU recovery funds ear-marked for Italy.

Our Editor at Large Nick Vinocur reviews the new Netflix series, “The Diplomat,” and shares how it’s landing with diplomats in Brussels and how it stacks up against their own experience.

POLITICO’s Senior Policy Reporter Joshua Posaner speaks with former Commanding General of U.S. Army Europe Ben Hodges in Berlin about why Ukraine will never be safe so long as Russia occupies Crimea, and Europe’s surprising lack of infrastructure for transporting military equipment to Ukraine.

And finally, Jacopo returns to decode this week’s Brussels jargon: COREPER.