Are flights between European countries, say Denmark and Finland, as easy as the OP's experience? Or has post-911 NSA influenced the majority of modern civilization into encumbrance?
It's pretty much the same. The security checks are a little bit more lax than TSA but no noticeable difference really. The airports in Finland and Denmark are generally pretty fast at getting people through security, maybe because of pretty low volume.
The most time consuming screening, my experience, is in the UK. Flight screening on the Continent is perhaps a touch quicker than in the States, but same ballpark.