That’s completely false. You ALWAYS have to show your ID card to fly in the EU. Always.
Seriously, just stop trying to use us to justify silly arguments about the USA. Yes, Europeans must show ID to travel, must absolutely show ID to vote (it would just be ridiculous if we didn’t) and getting the ID costs us money and must be renewed every 10 years (and paid for).
This is not true. The airline has the right to ask for it but in practice this is not really done -- or let me rephrase, not consistently done.
I fly intra-Schengen flights at least twice a year. I had to show ID sometimes before COVID but I never had to show ID after that, it actually caught my attention as anybody could have travelled in my place. I do online check-in, drop the bags, go through security, and show the boarding pass. Last time was three months ago, and once again: no ID.
From the top of my mind I can say that I travelled from/to Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Spain, Portugal in the last few years and I didn't need to present any ID to board the plane.
Exactly. I fly with low budget airlines (Ryan Air) that usually don’t bother.