I kind of assumed brexit would make people give up pretending, but that doesn’t seem to have happened
English is the most widely spoken language. It is the language you are most likely to have in common with a random European citizen — in the same way Chinese is the language you are most likely to have in common with a random Earthling. This doesn't mean if you do something in English (Chinese) the whole continent (planet) will understand it. It is very useful to know. Especially if you talk to someone who travels internationally a lot, some rich businessman or non–local politician, they surely speak English too.
>in the same way Chinese is the language you are most likely to have in common with a random Earthling
It's still going to be English, although not by a huge margin if you include non-Mandarin Chinese.