Add to that the very intense airliner traffic making for very congested airspace, even as low as FL60 or so
Where have you found that?
Looking out of the window, either at home or at the office, is sufficient. (10 NM or so NNW of Brussels). If still in doubt, consult flightradar24 or similar. Granted though, there'll be busy places elsewhere too.
The GA situation in Munich strikes me as emblematic given the potential utility of GA to local business and large amount of aircraft activity that was formerly in that area.
Yes, ridiculous. One of the wealthiest regions in Europe and no sensible access via GA. When the old airport Riem was closed and the new airport in Erding was built, they locked out GA which happily coexisted in Riem. As a compensation, it was promised to create an airport specific to GA. This never happened and in 2012 the promise was officially rescinded. Bavaria was once run by the notorious Franz-Josef-Strauß who almost became chancellor of Germany and who was famous for flying across Europe in his Queen Air and King Air. He once flew to Moscow for negotiations and landed on a closed airport and he ran an unsuccessful campaign for tax free AVGAS. The current Munich airport carries his name. I think he was a corrupt anti-democratic idiot but it's remarkable how Munich turned from being so pro GA to the worst enemy of GA.
If you ever consider buying a BMW (with the propeller logo), don't forget they are the main reason Munich is without GA. 
The funny thing is that nobody really understands how this has happened.
Looking out of the window, either at home or at the office, is sufficient. (10 NM or so NNW of Brussels). If still in doubt, consult flightradar24 or similar. Granted though, there'll be busy places elsewhere too.
That may be, and if let's say you positioned yourself on the final approach path to Heathrow, you would find that spot quite busy too
But when you actually fly, on routes allocated by Eurocontrol and/or ATC, you are nowhere near those places.
To start with, the Eurocontrol routings take lower airways traffic away from the busy terminal areas. This is an example of how lower airway (below FL200) traffic gets nowhere near the Paris airports. You can overfly some of them e.g. Paris > FL200, Frankfurt > FL130 or so, etc.
Then ATC separates you from traffic, by some 5nm laterally, which is a very long way.
I have flown many long trips across Europe and have very rarely got visual with another aircraft - of any size, apart from those at FL300+ making contrails.
The "busy European airspace" is a myth. Some bits are congested, not least because the countries are small and often don't coordinate traffic across borders, but most of Europe has almost nothing in it in the lower airways.
If you tried to fly a 150kt aircraft at FL350 then you would have major issues...
The funny thing is that nobody really understands how this has happened.
Airport management here is an opaque thing most of the time... Many airports are not run for aviation. They are employment centres for yellow jacket types, of which there is always an endless supply.
When the old airport Riem was closed and the new airport in Erding was built, they locked out GA which happily coexisted in Riem. As a compensation, it was promised to create an airport specific to GA. This never happened and in 2012 the promise was officially rescinded.
What a bummer. For what its worth, I think the best part of the Riem Arcaden shopping mall is the old control tower :-)
Too much complexity for me in BMWs recent offerings, two or four wheeled, so no worries on that account.
Too much complexity for me in BMWs recent offerings, two or four wheeled, so no worries on that account.
Mercedes-Benz is still an option, you know their logo with the 3 spokes? They signify "on land, on the water, in the air".
Until the mid sixties UK Governments supported light aviation with a reduced tax on fuel or some form of return, to ensure a supply of pilots.
1950s and 60s European aircraft designs were done like military aircraft (the experience of their designers)and weren't competitive.
I think that this is a key factor. I look at European aircraft, and German in particular, and see quality, magnificent quality. I was reminded of this during my visits to two Munich air museums, and the MT propeller factory, in September - such quality, built as if life itself depended upon the high quality. For this reason, I have always owned Volkswagons. But I don't own a Leica, I cannot justify the cost for the quality, for the casual application, when adequate cameras are available at one quarter the price.
So it is with aircraft, European quality, American adequacy. If I had to buy a quality European aircraft, and pay the infrastructure costs to fly, I doubt I could justify the cost. But, I can buy an adequate American aircraft, which like the American cars, was designed with a finite useful life in mind. Funny though, the adequate American aircraft proved to be super adequate, and outlasted expectations.
The U.S., and by extension, Canada, love GA, because we generally do it in adequate aircraft. Sure, we have a few super quality ones here too, but mostly, the skies are filled with adequate, affordable American aircraft.
With so many aircraft, the market sets the prices of purchase and operation more competitively. It's the competition. Cessna and Piper spent decades making aircraft more cost effective, to maintain their market share. Cost effective equals adequate, not super quality. A friend bought a dozen European "light" (certainly not mainstream GA) aircraft ten years ago for resale. I warned him not to. Quality, but at the cost of weight, complexity, and poor efficiency. A quasi exotic four place aircraft, hard to fix, and for twice the fuel consumption, a 172 would out perform it all the way around. Cessna built 29000 172's so buying competitive and fixing will never be a problem.
So the North Americans get in their adequate aircraft, and fly all over the place having lots of fun, while the Europeans really appreciate their quality aircraft, and excellent standards of maintenance, and wait for their aircraft to be out of the shop again, the airport to open for the day, all the rules to be obeyed - and force a smile.
Yes, I generalize, but my very first flying was out of a muddy field, where we'd get the ten year old, no radio 150 stuck up to its axles, yet still get airborne somehow. Landing on pavement was a luxury then. I remember flying my first 150 with a VOR, and feeling then as I do now when I fly a G1000 equipped aircraft. We flew adequate. I still fly into a friend's runway, and there are twenty ragbags tied down there - rows of adequate. I go to Bremerhaven Germany, and see a really nice GA airport used very little, with super hangars, a restaurant, and very well cared for aircraft - much more than adequate. But would I afford that infrastructure for my everyday flying? Perhaps not....
I don't think that Europe hates GA, I think they just perfect it out of affordability, so few people do, then they are perceived as the rich ........ by the rest of society.
Instead a fellow on a snowmobile pulls up on the ice near my 150, and muses at the cost of flying. I point out that he paid more for his snowmobile than I paid for the 150, and he probably pays more for insurance too! Yes, we love GA... Flying a 150 around, no one thinks I'm rich, but they know I have fun!
The U.S., and by extension, Canada, love GA, because we generally do it in adequate aircraft. Sure, we have a few super quality ones here too, but mostly, the skies are filled with adequate, affordable American aircraft.
So do we. Most of the GA aircraft here area US made. Back when GA was a business, Cessna had a factory in France (to avoid import duties). Today making small GA aircraft is just not a viable business. Apart from Cirrus, they live off the existing fleet, their R&D is dismal. Cessna minus Citation isn't really a viable business, Piper isn't and even Beech is struggling. Soccata stopped the piston line even though they had a great product and the remaining TBM850 business -- very successful by GA standards -- was passed on like a hot potato.
Also the success of Pilatus doesn't fit with your theory. They are highly successful, around the world and they are obsessed with build quality. Think about their wing plank which is one single sheet of aluminium. Just because they can do it.
I go to Bremerhaven Germany, and see a really nice GA airport used very little, with super hangars, a restaurant, and very well cared for aircraft - much more than adequate. But would I afford that infrastructure for my everyday flying? Perhaps not....
That problem will be solved soon. They are going to close Bremerhaven and turn it into a shipping terminal for offshore windmills. You can find a lot of those fancy but empty GA airfields in the poorest regions of Germany as they have had access to billions of subsidies and no idea how to boost their economy was too absurd to not go for it.
BTW, California also has a lot of luxurious and well cared for airfields, many of them rather empty. Of course they are cheaper to maintain as they don't need staff.
In Croatia for private flights we pay more expensive fuel than airliners - there's and additional tax added to basic fuel price before calculating VAT. E.g. if I have AOC or run flying school I'll pay one liter of 100LL 1.5€ (minus deductable VAT which will then be 1.2€); if I buy 100LL for my private flight I'll pay it 2.15€ per liter. Same applies for Jet A1 but with somewhat lower prices - if I'm airliner I'll pay cheaper fuel that if I privatly fly some turboprop or diesel piston.
This is standard in Europe.
If you can produce an AOC at the pump, you get duty/VAT-free fuel.
Only the UK (AFAIK) is different. You can still reclaim the tax but you have to do it separately.
In many cases of schools etc, it will be worth getting an AOC (the cheapest possible one) just for this reason 
You can reclaim the VAT anyway, in a business flying context.
Years ago, it was easy to get tax free fuel just by saying, in a loud voice, the word "commercial" three times, while waving around an AIR BP card with a Limited Company name on it Worked great especially in Spain... everybody was doing it. Worked in Croatia too. It also helped to wear the commercial pilot uniform, which you can buy for €100 or less (horrible and sweaty but worth it). But not any more.
