Ceiling fans are extremely efficient, and they also improve enormously the efficiency of AC - by reducing by several degrees the amount of cooling to reach a comfortable level.

Ceiling fans should be installed before any AC.

If you are not convinced, there is a one-hour video by Technology Connections on YouTube that will argue the point more in-depth that anything I could write here.

I'm from the US, although I live in Europe.

Most Germans don't own ceiling fans, which is the problem.