My guess is that many countries in Europe (all 3 I have been in for significant time) have their own internal payment circuit. I two of those debit cards also worked on visa/mastercard, while in 1 (the netherlands) there was a much stronger separation (most stores only accepted the national circuit, bigger stores sometimes had a special register you might have to ask to use)
In Denmark we mostly use local debit card, which also duals as VISA debit card when going international.
But using a credit card like MasterCard or VISA in Denmark usually incurs a fee with most merchants.
As for protection, I think you still have months to report fraud. Although you should always report it as soon as discovered.
weird. i'm european, live in europe, only use credit cards. either visa or amex. they offer better protection when buying something, protection against scammers, plus added benefits (from travel to cashback etc). it also contributes to my credit score.
if anything i think europe is actually craving a lot more credit, see klarna as a good example.