European plugs / sockets
The majority of European countries use the CEE 7/7 grounded plug. This is a 2-pin plug with a scraping earth contact. It's rated for up to 16A at 230V.
Many former Eastern Bloc countries used GOST (Russian) standards which have an almost identical plug (based on common pre WWII German ancestor) but it is only rated for 10 amps max.
This could explain why the Slovenian set up hardwires the washing machine and dryer.
Although, almost all of the formerly Eastern Bloc countries are moving to normal CEE standards, so new installations would be 16 Amp socket outlets.
The UK, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland and Denmark are the major exceptions.
The UK and Ireland use a completely different plug known as BS1363. This has 3 rectangular pins and, due to the ring circuit wiring used in the UK, every plug is individually fused. When connected to a ring circuit, the plug fuse provides the primary over current protection while the breaker is rated 32amps and is only designed to protect the house wiring.
These plugs carry up to 13 amps depending on the type of fuse inserted.
Italy uses a 3 pin plug with all 3 pins in a row. These are rated up to 16 amps.
Switzerland's plug is similar with the earth pin slightly out of line with the live and neutral. These are also only rated 10amps
Denmark uses a plug that is very like CEE 7/7 except that it uses a 3rd pin for grounding. This setup has proven to be quite dangerous as a Danish outlet can accept a standard European CEE 7/7 plug but will not make a ground connection!!
As a result, Denmark's now phasing them out in favour of the French socket system which complies with CEE 7/7.
It's not as complicated as it sounds!!
Below is the de facto standard CEE 7/7 plug that works in the vast majority of EU countries:
1 = socket outlet recessed to prevent any contact with the pins while you're inserting the plug (it's totally impossible to touch the pins)
2 = Grounding contact
3 = Line/Neutral pins
4 = Guide groves to make it easier to insert and support heavier plugs (transformers etc)