Gandi.net is France-based and apparently one of the best in the business.

( I had a rough move at first with them, coming from using another service for a decade, but they've been solid so far. )

What makes them "one of the best in the business" when evaluating their trustworthyness?

I wonder if it really would be a good choice to use a registrar from another country.

Since I am not based in France, I could probably not afford to sue them in case they mess up.

So if they mess up, my leverage to get them to act is probably non existant.

I mentioned France because EU regulations are better than elsewhere for customers, you also asked specifically about Europe. It's hard to find a bad review or a disgruntled customer anywhere, they consistently rank high in all articles or reports you might find about registrars / hosts, and they do not advertise themselves.

Also, they're not a newcomer, but a relatively big player ( despite the lack of advertising ) and independent, not part of one of those American umbrella companies with dozens of fake subcompanies who couldn't care less about individual cases.

I am based in Asia and even here they have an excellent reputation. I happened to find them at a time they were short on hands and releasing new products, their replies to my issues were slow and I was not happy about it -- full disclosure. Yet here I am recommending.

I was contacted directly by the area manager and offered compensation in the form of free services after I complained. In my experience they are serious, and I haven't found any better as yet.

I second gandi.

A very good UI/UX on their web service, a clear API that's usually well supported for ___domain TLS auth (certbot), a very complete documentation, and a good support.

You want GANDI.

They have been well known and respected in the RIPE (https://www.ripe.net/about-us) and Free/Open Source communities for something like two decades now.

My personal vanity ___domain goes back to 1995, and I registered it through Heller Information Systems, back when they were one of the biggest BBSes in the world. But every ___domain I’ve registered since then has been exclusively through gandi.net.

https://domains.google.com/ ?

Not sure Google, whose favourite past time is shutting down every couple of years services millions use would be the best option particularly when absolute reliability is a requirement.

Ars Technica has a 'graveyard' mini site somewhere devoted to listing everything Google shuts down.

Edit : https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/04/googles-constant-pro...

I've used gandi.net for years without any issue.