A mastercard debit card works much like a credit card. In germany for example, your standard "debit card" is your banks card and in online transactions, you just enter bank account and the banks identifier. It's a legacy way of paying that dates back to the eurocheques. It's comparable to the Card Bleue in France which is a system that exists pretty much in France only. This fragments the market.
OK, so you are talking about a different kind of debit card of which I have no knowledge. Romania was late in this world of online transactions and credit cards so we must have skipped this legacy somehow.
I also don't understand why VAT isn't the same everywhere in EU. So yeah, Europe is a mess.
Even worse: VAT is not the same depending on what you sell:
Foodstuff in general has lower VAT (7%) in germany, but that lower tax rate includes also hotel bills, but not the breakfast which is taxed at the regular 19%, taxi bills are reduced, etc. It's a mess. When you sell services in the EU and the service is rendered in another EU country and for a company with a valid Tax ID you don't have to pay VAT, which includes Switzerland (although they're not EU) and so on.
You are correct. But they are several reasons why the situation might seem complex for a foreigner.
French people regularly use the term "carte bleue" to mean "debit card" (and most of the debit cards still feature the legacy "carte bleue" logo). Even worse, most of them say "carte de crédit" (credit card) when they really mean "debit card", because credit cards are very uncommon and people don't know the difference. I have no statistics, but from my personal experience, credit cards not linked to a bank account barely exist here.
On the other hand, we have a lot of companies offering short-term, small-amount credits easily — directly on your bank account, without a dedicated credit card. Maybe those play the same role as credit cards in the US?
