Nothing at ALL wrong with the controllers Danny, but as you noted, the ATC system in Europe is made up of many countries, with their own agendas and priorities. For the system to work as a WHOLE, the system NEEDS to be modified.
Eurocontrol?
Now of course getting the UK, France, Germany etc to all work together is a bit of a stretch, but IF airlines are MADE to invest in RVSM/8.33 (read expensive) equipment, and then the ATC units are understaffed/underfunded, seems to me to be a COMPLETE waste of time.
As for descending early in the USA, yes would agree is sometimes fuel inefficient, but OTOH, have had the same problem in Europe many times. Not unique to the USA certainly.
Japan for example has very dense traffic, and have been asked/instructed many times for an early descent.
Sometimes you just have to go with the flow.