whereas I understand that licenses in Europe (or Germany at least) are valid for life once issued
There are some caveats with that, at least in Switzerland. Severe misbehavior in trafic can cost you your license for an extended period of time (anywhere from a month to two years) and might require repeating part of the courses, and in some cases even redo the examn. The later especially applies if you have an accident at advanced age.
Also, about 90% of the costs of a license are actually driving lessons. While the law doesn't require a minumum number of lessons to take the examn, it is a well-known fact that the examiners will just let you fail if you don't have enough (usually you're save at 30+).
And then of course we aren't allowed to drive a car at all before coming fully of age (18). We compensate by being allowed to buy and consume alcohol from 16 upwards :lol: