In France the situation is the same. Starting salaries go from 35k€ to 50k€ gross a year. No wonder a lot of students from college start as investment bankers or quant.
Yep, I'm around €35k/year w/ 6y experience in the "province" (that's what we call the "non-Paris area" in France.)
A French e50K salary probably costs the employer the same as a $100K US employer, or at least very similar.
That's ok for a starting salary.
It is unfortunately not competitive with trading desks which ask for the same kind of skills. It is a vicious circle : software companies pay less, good programmers go to banks, software companies get bad programmers and so feel they don't have to pay well. It is a shame.