Piltdown, One begs to differ with your generalisation. The system is not clogged 'per se'. In central Europe I would think that there are 'enough' controllers, although there could be more. The problem to my mind is that 'managers' and HR have taken over the situation, leading to the 'optimum solution' result. In the ATC world this is never a problem solver as there are too many variables. The so-called Eurocrats you mention are not the problem, one presumes you are meaning Brussels... ie. the EU. The ATC management involved within Europe (39 +/- countries) is tasked to Eurocontrol, also headquartered in Brussels but also responsible for the Maastricht UAC in The Netherlands. This ATC centre was the first multi-national unit opened in 1972 and since then has been a forerunner for ATC in Europe. Direct routings were started there when the Brussels upper airspace was active under Eurocontrol before moving to Maastricht. I know as I was there and part of it until 2013. Telephone calls to 'France control' for direct Pontoise and EVX were the norm... and we later built on that in all directions. This is the basis if the modern European flexible airspace model.
As an aside, I remember in 1971, I believe, a Caledonian B707 out of Gatwick to Singapore and that was the first time I had seen WSSS on a flight plan. He requested a 'direct anywhere as we are trying for the record'. I called Rhine to ask direct KRH (Karlsruhr) and asked them to coordinate further. We eventually received direct Klagenfurt and he was sent on his way. Two days later I read in the Daily Telegraph that a Caledonian B707 had broken the record for a non-stop flight to Singapore. Nice feeling that and it was just the beginning.