I think what throwawayaway was saying was that if a company wants to lay you off in a way that contravenes some employee protection laws they'll first offer you a sum of money on condition that it doesn't go to court (more than the amount they legally have to).

so we agree, it's cheaper in europe to get justice, but not free.

I'm not sure about other EU countries, but mine grants a small amount of free lawyer hours to every resident. Those free lawyers are not AAA-grade for sure, but they take care of the formalities. Some people (low income, unions etc) are eligible for more hours and/or better free lawyers.

So in case of a simple case, it might end up being free.

Why do people consistently say "my country" when it's just as easy to say "Denmark" or "Croatia" or what have you.

As @throwawayaway mentioned, some people may be worried about privacy. Many European countries are truly that small.

I myself have my location in my profile, so obviously this is not the case :) By saying that it's my country, I don't have to add if I just heard about it from my colleague, friend, read on a blog or have first-hands experience. I could say "my country (name-of-the-country)" to make it more clear though. But in this case the exact country doesn't matter much. Thus I put in the necessary information only.

You'd be surprised how small the tech industry is once you get down to national level in Europe.

If you're a member of some sort of union (and many more people are) then they'll often provide you with a legal team for free if they believe your case is 'worthy'.