These arguments about not risking losing capability and training a workforce are worn out, ArianeSpace's insistence on not earnestly working to innovate led to them already having had a gap in domestic capability. Similarly, they're just maintaining the workforce at great expense, but the private space booms in the US and China are actively growing the workforce on the back of mostly private capital.

On top of that, it isn't as if ArianeSpace is just acting as a stopgap until a private provider is ready, they're actively opposing the rise of private providers. They're even lobbying to choke the European satellite industry by forcing them to be restricted to European launchers, regardless of availability or capability.