For Germany, I guess one factor is that while the first foreign language taught at schools usually was English, but only for West Germany. East Germany had Russian instead.
It slowly changed of course after GDR ended.
So it also depends on on the age of a person and where they grew up.
Re: Percentage of population able to hold a conversation in English in the EU by country.
East Germany had Russian instead.
It slowly changed of course after GDR ended.
So it also depends on on the age of a person and where they grew up.