On Friday, June 20, President Emmanuel Macron is expected at the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget and aims to make the event a turning point for France and Europe's space strategy. "We are witnessing a dramatic acceleration of the space sector" that "is being privatized at breakneck speed with extremely ambitious projects, especially from the Americans, but also from Chinese players." It is also "becoming militarized very, very quickly," explained an Élysée adviser ahead of the president's midday speech from the "Paris Space Hub" – the Le Bourget hall devoted entirely to the sector. The war in Ukraine has highlighted Europe's dependence on Starlink, Elon Musk's satellite communications network. "Europe needs to "act independently, not be dependent on external solutions," the Élysée acknowledged.

In this context, the government announced on June 19 that it would strengthen the state's stake in Eutelsat, the French satellite operator whose low-Earth orbit constellation is, for now, the only viable European alternative to Starlink.

To achieve this, France's State Participation Agency (APE, the government's shareholdings agency) will take a major share in Eutelsat's €1.35 billion capital increase; the APE alone will contribute €717 million. At the same time, it will purchase the 13.6% stake currently held by Bpifrance, bringing its total holding to 29.9% – just below the threshold that would trigger a mandatory takeover bid for the entire company.

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