Single phase is fairly uncommon in Germany but main switches over there usually only switch the phases and not the neutral. In Austria I've never seen a main switch, usually the RCD performs that function (theoretically you're supposed to have more than one to prevent the whole place from going dark if the RCD trips but I've never seen that in homes other than mansions, except in places I wired myself).
Steel consumer units are virtually unknown on the continent, flame retardant plastic is the way to go. Could have something to do with TT supplies where you aren't supposed to earth anything that isn't on an RCD (hard to get the earth resistance low enough to trip a 25 A+ main fuse or even 100+ in case of a riser mains in case of an earth fault). Meter cabinets are occasionally steel but double isolation still has to be achieved as far as I know. Back in the old days of homebrew steel enclosures we'd sleeve the individual wires with flexible conduit at the meter, resulting in something like UK double-isolated meter tails. I last did that in 2003, not sure if such cabinets are still acceptable.
The flying splice in the consumer unit wouldn't fly here, although it's fairly common to do that. No inspections round here... and little testing done by the electricians too. Unless forced by some authority or the customer, most electricians will stick a voltage tester into the sockets at best. No isolation testing, RCD test etc. (all required by the regulations).
