Not relevant for polar orbits

Not when you want to go into a polar orbit. That is flying over the earths poles and have the earth spin under the orbit. That allows satellites to take photos or use other sensors over every part of the planet. However to do that you need to have as little spin as possible hence being close to the poles is a good idea.

"Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department!" says Wernher von Braun.

No, we've had a change in management since the last time.

Made me laugh 😅

Not yet, but planned.

But the launchpad on Santa Maria island isn't in continental Europe, and technically that island specifically is on the African tectonic plate.

You are underestimating the importance of polar or SSO. Equatorial orbit is used for transfer to GEO and interplanetary missions, but SSO is used for earth observation, military reconnaissance, and the oh so popular LEO telecom constellations. All these topics are very important for the space industry currently.

E: Also, SpaceX seems to be phasing out its Rideshare Programme, on which a lot of micro satellites were relying. If they do, there will be a real vacuum in terms of launch and people will really want additional launchers to the occasional Arianespace launch, and some price competition.

not the more economically feasible equatorial orbit

You somehow manage to make that sound like polar orbits are a minor thing and equatorial orbits are superior and harder to reach when it's the opposite. Equatorial in earth's rotational direction is the by far easiest one. That's the default because every other orbit is a lot harder in comparison.

It is also the first successful launch of this launch system. That is not happening that often.

Never launched a satellite from there

It was launched from Norway.

Parts of Kazakhstan are in Europe, but the region where Baikonur is, is generally considered as being a part of Asia

Russian soil.

Can't do the second step after the first one, I guess.

Spanish company PLD Space is working on recoverable and reusable rockets. They had a successful launch in 2023 but it was suborbital. They are working on a low orbit rocket now: https://www.pldspace.com/en/news/pld-space-successfully-completes-first-private-space-rocket-launch-in-europe.html

They launched from Huelva so it was the first launch of a private rocket from continental Europe (but, again, suborbital).

I was thinking the same. It's good for what it is, but especially for smallish rockets reusability is going to be key if we want any use out of them beyond occasional military satellites.