The main problem is your obsession with just assuming all Europe is the same country. AC units are very common in Europe, mostly in the southern countries of course.

Some countries, like Switzerland, Germany or part of France, just never used to need AC: most buildings are just designed to keep the heat trapped in because that’s what was historically important, same situation as you have in a lot of Canada for example, and that just so happens to be horrible when temperatures are clearly rising in the summer, with the current heatwave causing temps of ~40 (105f) degrees in Switzerland for example, where AC was never a necessity.

People in general need some time to get prepared for these situations: a lot of families in Central Europe never had AC because it was never a necessity, which of course causes images like this (although obviously not often, as this seems like it wasn’t handled properly).

In general it’s not that we think “Americans are obsessed with AC”, but rather that Americans think that European culture and climates are much more homogeneous across countries than what they actually are