Pretty much this, it simply genuinely hasn't been a part of the culture until recently. The energy use angle doesn't help, nor does the cost of the units. In case GP forgot, the eastern half of Europe only got rid of Soviet occupation in the 90s, and has been playing quite the catchup. We bought fans and that was kinda it. Can't really comment on western Europe, but I'm sure they can. :)

GP's big leftist overregulation fantasy is adorable though, and definitely no stereotypes were hurt in the writing of his comment, but the reality is that mini split heat pump aircon installations in particular are booming here, usually paired with solar. So unless he's referring to something from the past millenium, which would be pretty weird to do without noting it, that's a swing and a miss.

The spooky statistics "difference" comes down to a difference in measurement methodology afaik; we actually measure the thing, for one. This exact talking point he's raising has been common in certain circles as of late, actually.

But I'm sure his position is entirely his own and actually way more informed than mine, he simply omitted his sources for brevity :)