Lucky maybe - I have not been to M for several years, but looking at the major European hubs, holding is far less than at LHR. Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Zurich, Geneva, Rome etc - all manage with only occasional holds and a touch of 'speed control' and 'routing'. As I said, Madrid is the only one where I have been 'held' more than at others and that has tended to be when they are on southerlies and with a lot of 'national' traffic.
We have had this query on LHR holding on PPR a few times before and inbound traffic does spend a significant amount of time and fuel holding.