Have you considered France? According to your examples, it would be like a sort of middle point between Spain and Switzerland. You'd have a well-functioning welfare state, good education, free and open universities (the students of top-tier schools even receive a salary if they manage to get in). The only thing that I dislike is that Paris proper is quite stressing, due to crazy traffic, nervous people, etc. But there are very nice accessible neighborhoods just a few minutes off the center.
Thanks a lot for this suggestion, this is actually worth considering, I speak the language(courtesy of the Swiss education system) and had some job offers from France before, they looked interesting, just a bit too remote of life for my taste.
I am just wondering if Paris and the suburbs would be as expensive as London, I will compare the relevant costs.
