[Qiu_Zhanxuan]

We spent the last 30 years showing deference to good old Uncle Sam, sometimes back-stabbing other member states in the process. How would we ever have the nerves to do something of this scale with all the cooperation, supply chain logistics and engineering complexity that this would involve ?

[mikkupikku]

Let's be real, it's not America's fault that the EU is dysfunctional in these regards. I'm sure that America does little to actually help, but the biggest problem the EU faces comes from their own internal corruption. Nothing gets done in Europe unless it can be restructured by their corrupt bureaucrats to pay all their friends and relatives, and the process of negotiating how to spread the graft around is highly political and takes many years. This is why the ESA is so dysfunctional despite Arianespace starting from a position of almost commercial launch market dominance at the end of the millennium. They're locked into Ariane 5 development even though it was obsolete on arrival and it will probably take them 20 years to negotiate the corrupt deals that will allow them to design and build something new. This cultural and political dysfunction in European society is entirely the fault of Europeans. India will send people to space before Europe.

[Qiu_Zhanxuan]

Haven't said otherwise, it's our elites "impotent" mentality that is to blame (excuse my french)