UK is European. Membership of EU is unnecessary for that criterion to be met.

We are. Do you think someone dragged the whole country to new location?

Norway, Iceland and Switzerland are also not in the EU. Are they also on a different continent?

I bet EU bureaucrats would love to dictate their redefinition of "European".

The UK is not in the EU, but it is surely european.

The UK is no longer in the EU; The UK is still in Europe and is very much European.