Unironically correct.

European defense contractors completely skipped making fifth gen fighters (other than some partnerships with the US on theirs), so there are literally no European fifth gen options on the table to even consider. This makes it pretty easy for the F-35 to cruise to victory in competitive selection processes, it's simply more advanced.

Hopefully this changes for sixth gen, with the two different European programs there. While I'm American myself, I think things work out better if there's some friendly competition.

It is expensive to make a modern fighter. However you want some competition just to keep everyone honest.

There's money to be had. I mean, all in all the F-35 has come to what, something like a trillion dollars ? That'd be $1,000,000,000,000.

There's money to be had, but also a lot of money that has to be spent. Which is presumably why European countries/companies didn't develop a fifth gen fighter in the wake of the Cold War ending. Made some sense then, but now it's left them totally reliant on the US if they want a fifth gen (or better) fighter anytime soon.