It does indeed, it gets you additional support, coverage for repairs arising after delivery and so on. Apple even has a handy chart: http://www.apple.com/uk/legal/statutory-warranty/
At least in Germany, if the defect is not the fault of the consumer (dropped tablet/iphone), producer has to repair. And that up to two years.
So Apple is intentionally misleading consumers here, to trick them, to buy this care-product.
But on the other hand - it is a tax on peoples stupidity. If you do not know your basic rights as a consumer, my empathy for you being tricked into such a deal is actually on the same level as my sympathy for apple, attempting such a trick: Next to zero.
But it's still not a tax on stupidity, it does give you more outside of the hardware repair situation.
The only real difference is that with AppleCare you can contact Apple directly instead of the seller. But as far as the rest is concerned, in most EU countries you have better warranty by law than what Apple tries to peddle as "service".