Am in the EU.
Chrome. Not logged into Google.
Clear all browsing data. Check what cookies are stored. There are none.
Visit http://youtube.com and click on a random video.
Check cookies:
accounts.google.com
1 cookie
fonts.googleapis.com
Channel ID
ggpht.cim
Channel ID
google.com
Channel ID
googlevideo.com
Channel ID
gstatic.com
Channel ID
www.youtube.com
Database Storage, Local Storage, Service Workers
youtube.com
Channel ID, 6 cookies
ytimg.com
Channel ID
At no point was I asked to accept cookies.
Cookie AutoDelete: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cookie-autodelete/...
There is also a Firefox version: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/cookie-autode... and at least Mozilla's interests may slightly align more with your own than google's interests. So you might consider switching to Firefox as well.