The “European” operator EutelSat aims to replace Elon Musk’s Starlink system in Europe, claiming to be“ready to deploy in Ukraine“. Europe dreams of strategic autonomy, but condemns itself to impotence by refusing to adopt an ambitious industrial policy. The example of Eutelsat is emblematic: born as a leading European player, the group is today dominated by foreign interests. And the reason for this? A bureaucratic vision that favors regulation over economic power, and refuses to build genuine industrial champions.
In a world where economic power relations prevail, Europe persists in believing that the market and competition are sufficient to guarantee its sovereignty. Unlike the USA and China, which aggressively protect and subsidize their strategic companies, Brussels prefers to fragment its industry under the pretext of “free and undistorted” competition. The result? Instead of building a powerful satellite player capable of competing with Starlink, Europe has allowed Eutelsat to merge with OneWeb under international governance. Far from turning Eutelsat into a European champion, this merger led to a change in shareholding structure in which foreign interests, notably Bharti Enterprises (India) and the UK, gained the upper hand. Eutelsat is no longer European. It has become a global player controlled in part by non-European powers, even though the European Union would have had the means to structure an independent, competitive player.
Historically, Eutelsat was an intergovernmental organization (IGO) which guaranteed a degree of control by European states over strategic infrastructures. But through compromise and the gradual relinquishing of its powers, this IGO is now an empty shell. It plays no more than a symbolic role, incapable of imposing any real strategic orientations. Why is this? Because Europe still believes that regulation is stronger than economics. Rather than providing the IGO with real levers for action, it has allowed market dynamics to dictate Eutelsat’s future. As a result, European states find themselves spectators to a company whose strategy is no longer dictated by their interests.
While Europe wrestles with its competition rules and administrative directives, other powers are taking action:
- The United States protects SpaceX and Starlink, guaranteeing them massive funding and preferential access to strategic markets.
- China is investing heavily in its own satellite constellation, preventing any foreign takeover of its key players.
- India, via Bharti Enterprises, has imposed itself on Eutelsat’s governance, taking advantage of Europe’s laissez-faire attitude.
Europe, on the other hand, is bogged down in its own rules, and refuses to see that the world functions on the basis of the logic of power, not abstract principles of free competition. Eutelsat has become the symbol of a Europe that prefers dogma to the reality of economic power. As long as it refuses to protect its strategic industries, structure genuine champions and adopt an offensive industrial policy, it will continue to lose ground to other global blocs. The future is simple: either Europe understands that sovereignty requires strategic choices, or it will continue to see its companies fall under foreign control, while multiplying useless regulations. It’s time to choose between power and powerlessness.
Alexandre Sonnet
President of Humind
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
