It very much depends on the sectors and the individuals. there are plenty of bone-idle folk in the UK. And plenty in Germany, France, Italy and every other country.
I found the Germans tend to work hard, but when they have had enough, then they have had enough and would 'down tools' until the next day. And their works councils make sure they get rewarded well. The British doing the same job would carry on working however long was neccessary and would typically carry on for hours after the Germans packed up. The French on the other hand would not pull their fingers out much; would NEVER have a working lunch, and as soon as they hit their 35 hours in the week would be away regardless of any deadlines. Scandinavians ... Good workers but maybe slightly too chilled out sometimes.
Now going outside Europe, the US guys would be pretty well like the Brits, and the Singaporeans would probably be the folk who put the most hours in, but were not the most effective due to their education (intelligent, well educated, but inflexible mindsets).
Maybe other industries had different patterns of work ethics, but in the Industry that I worked in, with people from various countries doing similar jobs, this is what I observed.