The first international space summit under the German-French presidency in Paris is not under a good star. Under pressure from American President Donald Trump, four of the most important American space companies, including Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, canceled their participation at short notice, as the American news portal "Politico" first reported. The Elysée Palace is trying to downplay the affront.
But French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu spoke plainly at the laying of the foundation stone for a future factory of the French rocket manufacturer Maiaspace in Vernon on Friday evening. “The clouds over European space policy are quite dark and numerous,” he said. “Our sovereignty and our access to space are at stake,” the head of government added.
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Next Wednesday and Thursday, representatives from 120 countries as well as the most important companies and organizations in the sector are invited to the Grand Palais in Paris to discuss the challenges facing the use of space. As the Élysée Palace announced, China will be represented at a high level. Russia, North Korea and Iran were not invited to Paris.
In Washington, the multilateral approach and the European attempt to agree on rules are met with criticism. According to Politico, a White House official accused the French side of not taking the American perspective into account and of wanting to introduce “anti-competitive practices.” The White House warned the companies that SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke Space and Starcloud's participation in Paris would appear as if they were endorsing the European approach. They then canceled their participation.
In the case of Musk, he is also being summoned by the French judiciary due to possible illegal practices on Platform X, which he is responsible for. It was feared that he would not be safe from interrogation on French soil, it was said.
Merz has scheduling problems – is Pistorius coming?
The background to the anger in Washington is also the EU's efforts to restrict access to its satellite frequency spectrum and to give preference to European providers. So far, the so-called 2 GHz frequency band is used by two American companies, Viasat and Echostar. SpaceX has already publicly criticized the EU's plan and warned that it would endanger the Starlink service for Ukraine.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wants to present an action plan to protect satellites and other space resources at the summit in Paris. The so-called European Space Shield is intended as a response to increasing hybrid Russian attacks on European satellite infrastructure. GPS interference is increasing in the Baltic Sea region, affecting both civil and military air traffic.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) and President Emmanuel Macron announced the international space summit at the most recent Franco-German Council of Ministers in Brühl near Cologne in mid-July. They stated that their goals were to create the basis for future negotiations on international coordination of space traffic, frequency allocation and the exchange of scientific data from space.
But Merz also canceled his participation again, citing scheduling difficulties. It was said that he had to stay in Berlin during the budget week and after the election in Saxony-Anhalt. Space Minister Dorothee Bär (CSU) will represent Merz in Paris. In order to avoid irritation, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) is considering traveling to the space summit on the Seine. After the end of the German-French fighter aircraft system FCAS, the impression should not be created that cooperation in space policy is also in crisis.
It is planned that an agreement will be signed on the sidelines of the summit on the reusable multi-purpose spaceplane Vortex-S, which is to be developed by the French Dassault and the German OHB for the European Space Agency (ESA).
As Prime Minister Lecornu also emphasized, Europe has fallen behind America and China in the race for reusable launch vehicles and must urgently pick up the pace. “We know very well that we have no advantage over our big competitors, so we don’t have to fool ourselves,” he said.
Germany is perceived as fickle
The war in Ukraine has shown the critical role satellite data plays in military operations, particularly in identifying targets. But not only Ukraine, but also most European countries rely largely on American satellite systems for their defense. According to the French interpretation, the anger from Washington also applies to European efforts to become more independent of American systems.
The German position towards the United States is perceived in Paris as fickle. As the news portal “La Lettre” reported, the federal government in Brussels is blocking the plan to introduce a European preference clause for EU-subsidized space programs. In Berlin, a general “Buy European” requirement for the entire EU space policy is rejected.
This is particularly true with regard to SpaceX. The Musks company offers very cheap tariffs that the European company Arianespace has not yet been able to compete with. A lot of money is involved. There is still no decision on the future budget, but EU spending on space policy is estimated at up to 60 billion euros.
