kcockayne may or may not have formally been an ATCO, however his statement undermines the intelligence of pilots in a area he is not qualified to comment i.e. he has not flown an aircraft over Europe. It is therefore contemptible to make such comments without expecting a reciprocal comment.
Preference given by ATC is an annoyance rather than a safety issue most of the time my real issue is with the competences and disciplines of both French and Belgium ATC's.
Only today at Toulouse GND cleared 2 commercial aircraft to taxi to hold for 14L in some very loose and poor phraseology which was in direct conflict with a Seneca taxing in the opposite direction. Fortunately it was daylight. Had it been at night it could have been a different story. This kind of experience is not unusual and is definitely on the increase due to very poor standards of ATC.