After Ariane 4 there very much was hope for commercial success of Ariane 5. If anything it fell short, but was saved by robust GEO market. Going away from Arian

After Ariane 4 there very much was hope for commercial success of Ariane 5. If anything it fell short, but was saved by robust GEO market. Going away from Ariane 5 style smaller rocket was a huge failure and its part of the seed that lead to the situation we have now. Had the Ariane 5 been a competitive design capable of competing with Soyuz on the low range and compete for big GEO birds on the high end, it would have been far better for European space policy. A design like Atlas 5. Capable of launching without boosters or with booster for GEO. That would have been smarter then using a combination of Soyuz and Ariane 5.