How many EU countries did you work in those 50 years?

Come to Austria and you'll see non-competes everywhere and they're enforceable since they're legal by federal labor/employment law since the private industry lobbied for them because quote "employees taking IP knowledge with them is the biggest threat to employers, bigger than industrial espionage".

In other EU companies you can find them too but they might not be enforceable if they're not backed up by local laws in those countries so always check local laws before doubting over non competes in contracts.

Portugal, Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Greece, UK, in various forms of employment.

Indeed thy are but there are so many aspects that it's quite difficult to compare with the US. You have duration limits, salary conditions, special situations in which it might be effective, proof of damage, and in any case, it is not allowed to block the employer from working. So like the meme: yes, but actually no.

I worked in Netherlands in a startup and we had a non-compete