[bdauvergne]

Good answer, the european space program is just a spinoff of the french ICBM program nothing else; it also explains the reluctance of other countries to finance it, like anything approaching the french military industry, because you know french are imperialistic, I known, I'm french \s.

[Beretta_Vexee]

Imperialism, I call that General de Gaulle's France! Anyone who says otherwise is a traitor to the homeland, American or Russian bootlickers! \s

More seriously, France often has a non-aligned or sovereign vision of its programmes, which makes many European countries uncomfortable, as they don't really want to assert any form of independence from the USA.