Ironically, an EC card these days is just a MasterCard. They used to be called EC (EuroCheque) card, but rebranded in 2007 when MasterCard was ousted from the system. MC kept the brand rights and didn't do anything with them for a decade. Meanwhile people kept using the old name. Now, however, MC started using the brand for some debit MasterCards, which can lead to great confusion by unsuspecting merchants.

That said, for many shops it was either girocard and cash or just cash only. Merchants just weren't willing to eat the fees associated with other card schemes.

Things have changed, though. The EU has capped the interchange fees of four party debit and credit cards to 0.2% and 0.3% respectively and now most shops tend to accept MasterCard and Visa as well.