> So the ESA Director General has made clear he isn't interested in reforming geo-return.

A recent article on the geo-return policy written by ESA's DG sounds a lot more nuanced and promising, though:

> To enhance compatibility between geo-return and competition, the policy of geo-return should increasingly shift towards a ‘fair contribution’ principle, that is to adjust the contribution of each Member State according to the outcome of the industrial competitions and to the actual share gained by its industry in these competitions. Several ESA programmes, especially in close-to-market sectors such as telecommunications, are already built in this manner.

Source: Josef Aschbacher - "The competitiveness of ESA’s Geo-return policy", 20 Mar 2023.