Ursula von der Leyen and Emmanuel Macron, center, pose for a photo with other attendees at the International Space Summit in Paris on Sept. 10, 2026.Pool photo by Aurélien Morissard via AFP/Getty Images

Macron’s space summit showed Europe isn’t ready to go to space without the US – POLITICO

by · POLITICO

PARIS — The international space summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday and Thursday was meant to show that Europe is getting serious about investing in its space sector.

But the two-day gathering under the glass dome of Paris’ Grand Palais ended up demonstrating that Europeans are not spending enough to cut reliance on the U.S. to access space — at least not yet.

On the sidelines of the summit, space companies from around the world announced billions in new partnerships and investments, but the big get-together fell short of the public funding announcements needed to access space without U.S. help.