They’re not automatically applied, but they are there as options. There’s an example in this in a previous post: Set default vat rate on sales invoices to no vat? - #4 by QFMathew
The same thread is actually a feature request, so please feel free to add your vote at the top.
Regarding the articles on default VAT rate, unfortunately I still can’t find any so I would appreciate it if you could post some links for me to take a look at (and get updated accordingly). However, I have found quite a few on the default category, which is something we do support (also known as default nominal).