High Unemployment Rates in Europe - Structural Problems or Deficient Aggregate Demand?

1)UNEMPLOYMENT IN EUROPE
After reading page 207 of McConnell and Brue's "Economics", I have come to the conclusion that the high rates of unemployment in Europe are not solely due to structural problems or deficient aggregate demand.

I find validity in both arguments. The idea that the high amount of social security in Europe, along with union contracts limiting the ways an employer can fire an employee, does indeed discourage workers from taking new jobs, which are not abundant because employers are weary of employing people. This is something I know first hand, as my father would come home with stories of incompetent people he could not fire because of labour laws.
However, the low aggregate demand does not make matters better. Although page 207 does not give this information, earlier in chapter 9, on page 156, we can see a table where the average propensity to consume of USA, Canada, UK, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Japan and France are displayed. As is suggested by deficient aggregate demand, the mainland European countries had a substantially lower average propensity to consume. This may explain the reason why Europe isn't producing as much. They simply don't need as much.

Rather than state black and white which is the real cause, I would say that the low aggregate demand is what enables the government policies and union contracts to be imposed, without destructive effects to the economy.

2)US 1996-2000 ECONOMIC GROWTH WITH LOW INFLATION
The US was able to maintain low levels of inflation, with high levels of GDP and greater than full-employment between the years of 1996-2000, through strong aggregate supply. As the economy expands, represented aggregate demand shifting out and greater than full-employment, the rate of inflation should technically rise. However, seeing as aggregate supply also shifted out, the inflation rate was kept down.