Four American Firms Skip Macron’s Space Summit; Return Later for Paris Event
Four American space companies, SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke Space, and Starcloud, withdrew from French President Emmanuel Macron’s Paris space summit after White House pressure. They are expected back in the city a week later for World Space Business Week.
The boycott highlights tensions between Washington and Europe over orbit, spectrum, and the EU Space Act. While the summit itself is facing delays and organizational issues, the core dispute centers on access to limited space resources.
The EU Space Act, proposed by the European Commission in 2025, would regulate operators serving EU users regardless of their location and impose debris mitigation and cybersecurity requirements. SpaceX has expressed opposition to these measures, leading Europe to push for stricter regulations through legislation and its own satellite projects like IRIS2.
"If certain countries or actors don’t want to participate, in a way, that’s their loss," an Elysee official stated publicly.