Question for a highway engineer......?

A recent visit to Rumania, Poland etc at the end of their vicious - 40C winter failed to reveal any real problem with potholes. And these are seriously poor countries. France too was OK. Yet ours have been in a terrible state. Is this another case of the UK authorities building to minimal specifications, which with the cost of ongoing repairs is quite simply the most expensive option? And why are our new road surfaces comparitiveny uneven?