This disparity is going to expand dramatically when starship starts launching actual missions with some kind of regularity.

That any space faring nation is not working on reusable vehicles a decade after SpaceX proved it possible feels as head in the sand as V8 engines instead of electric.

Yup. Falcon 9 first succeeded at landing over ten years ago. What on earth have the (presumably) smart people at Arianespace been doing over that time?