Been a long time coming, but hopefully if it happens an implosion of the Arianespace semi-monopoly will open the way for the EU to see its own domestic commercial providers grow into genuinely globally competitive options. The EU should be focused on generating demand like Commercial Cargo/Commercial Crew did and then allowing fixed price providers to meet it however they can, vs trying to micromanage means and distribution. I think a fundamental mistake of a lot of the old guard, which is really something repeated over and over throughout modern history, is somehow failing to recognize a potentially positive sum game when they see it. There was so much focus on "protecting jobs", as-in existing jobs doing the same existing thing, as if it was a zero-sum game where any money spent more efficiently getting to space would then just mean that the freed up money evaporated. But massively cheaper, higher cadence access to space opens up entirely new and improved economic opportunities and in turn a lot of new potential jobs. The money saved on getting a kilogram to orbit can turn right around into more kilograms that generate a more lasting return then the money previously burned up in the atmosphere. That's "economic growth" in the most fundamental positive way, delivering humans more value for the same amount of energy/materials.
Ariane has turned into a lumbering zombie that is sucking up financial and political oxygen that much more promising players desperately need. But the EU (and the world) is plenty big enough to support their own SpaceX/Rocket Labs/Relativity/etc and next generation space stations/industry. I'm an American and think our own space efforts are one area of absolutely justifiable pride, but it'd be healthy long term if other democracies and groups of democracies offered some redundancy.
Ariane has turned into a lumbering zombie that is sucking up financial and political oxygen that much more promising players desperately need. But the EU (and the world) is plenty big enough to support their own SpaceX/Rocket Labs/Relativity/etc and next generation space stations/industry. I'm an American and think our own space efforts are one area of absolutely justifiable pride, but it'd be healthy long term if other democracies and groups of democracies offered some redundancy.