[cranekam]

Apparently it is true:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/registering-and-renewing-eu-doma...

It seems .eu domains are more or less only available to people who live in the EU/EEA, hold EU/EEA citizenship or businesses that conduct business in the region.

[denton-scratch]

And that was always so; it's not "more-or-less", you've never been able to have a .eu domain unless you "belong to" the EU, for various values of "belong to". Always read the T&C.