Jean-François Fallacher didn’t so much give an interview in Der Spiegel as hand Berlin a shopping list. The headline item reads national pride, the fine print reads fresh equity. He calls it an invitation to “talk.” Everyone else would call it fundraising with better lighting.

The pitch sounds noble. Europe needs its own space networks, not another decade of explaining to ministers why the internet in orbit belongs to California. The story lands well on TV. It also lands on taxpayers.