French President Emmanuel Macron urged Europe to bolster its "fragile" space sector with a new shared financing approach and bold exploration ambitions, calling for European-made rocket launches within a decade. At a Paris summit, Macron advocated booking dozens of rocket launches together to boost makers like Ariane Group and Isar Aerospace, and criticized the rigid geo-return funding model. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen supported merging space units of Airbus, Thales and Leonardo into industrial champions.

The summit announced deals including €15.6bn Iris² satellite constellation contracts and ESA's first European space cargo agreement with The Exploration Company. However, key leaders like German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni were absent, and SpaceX cancelled its presence. Europe faces growing dependence on other nations for critical space technologies, threatening defense capabilities.