[smalltalk]

It's not the cost of living nor the cost of technical support as one of the responses discussed, but the fact that EU law places so many additional constraints on businesses that the cost of doing business there is vastly higher than doing business in the US; accordingly, US companies make up for the difference by charging EU customers more for their products.

[replax]

The EU does certainly not place restrains on vendors which DOUBLE their costs. Is Windows twice as expensive? Are apps on any appstore twice as expensive?

This is just Adobe trying to rake more cash in. They are betting that companies are not going to switch from Adobe products to something else because a licence is twice as expensive. So far, it seems to have worked.