FWIW, SIDs and STARs are issued routinely to all flights in Europe. SIDs
are usually flown as depicted with the occasional approved shortcut, whereas
in my experience ATC usually vectors you off STARs fairly early as they're
oriented towards holding fixes and procedural approaches. Life may be
different at the "majors" such as Heathrow, where holding is usual.

Generalizing a little, I guess the reason for the difference between that
and GA ops in the US may be that IAFs for approaches in Europe are less
frequently enroute navaids. They're usually just on-airport beacons. Thus
STARs tend to act as feeder routes.

Julian Scarfe