Agreed, usually it is sensible. Just not on that Megane, or as I later found out also on a French friend’s same year of Megane.
Even the mechanic from the Hire company who came out to us to replace the ultra-soft, grabby, quick-fade brake pads agreed Renault had got it wrong.
Our Mazda3 has the best of both worlds, manual parking brake but hill-start assist for two seconds if you are a bit slow co-ordinating things, or just pausing and not bothering with the handbrake (and only if there is a slope).