Probably more for California emissions than Europe but a cat right next to the turbo, plus a second cat, is very common on most turbo cars. First cat heats up way faster that way and the amount of fuel these engines burn, it needs 2 cats anyway to meet the very tough cal' emissions.
I noticed bugger all deleting the first cat. It trims EGTs down a bit at the top end but in day-day driving there was nothing appreciable on the butt dyno.
