Probably why they are more conscious it's a problem then.

Yeah. The rollout of domestic wiring standards was pre-EU, and dealing with the entrenched incompatible standardisation gets in the way of the EU goal of a single market in goods and services. They really don't want more arbitrary standards that vary nationally.

Of course, that's not quite the same as the laptop charger question where the fragmentation is between companies and less entrenched. But still.

No, EU uses a single plug, it is called "Type C" (no, not USB-C). What you might find in some poorer regions in EU is old plugs that were there pre-EU, or prestandardization.

I can say that, because Brexit happened, I have no clue what those were thinking when designing their own gigantic plug.

This is just not true. Denmark and Italy use their own plugs; Ireland, Malta, and Cyprus use the British plug; and the heart of the EU is divided between French-style and Schuko plugs. (Switzerland, though outside the EU, also uses its own plugs.)

As I understand it, EU moves to standardise plugs failed in the 90s.

Oh, right I forgot about Malta (basically UK mini) and Cyprus.

But Italy has the "normal" (schuko or French) plug. The old one (three holes in line) are in older houses mostly.

My previous data was based on my travel in EU. Now I'm corrected.

But there is a standardized plug that fits both schuko and French style sockets. That was probably why I didn't notice it earlier.

> But Italy has the "normal" (schuko or French) plug. The old one (three holes in line) are in older houses mostly.

That's a bit of an oversimplification. I was in Italy on Thursday and also early in May. My very modern hotel rooms mostly had Italian three-hole sockets, with a single token 'standard' euro socket provided at the table, that nevertheless didn't always accept my (French-style) laptop cable because the prongs were too thick.

Also, flashy modern hotels aside, I'd say most houses in Italy are "older houses". The three-hole socket is definitely extremely common in Italy in my experience. In fact, there's two incompatible three-hole Italian sockets - a larger one for most appliances, and a smaller one for lights.

No. Type C is limited to 2.5 A ungrounded appliances. For regular (16 A, grounded) sockets, half of EU use type E and other half type F. Fortunately, there is CEE 7/7 plug, which is compatible with both type E and type F sockets.

Doesn’t Ireland use G?

Regardless, I meant, physically within the borders of the EU, not during the time of the EU.