It's not that they can't speak English, the cliché (at least in the past) is that they refuse to speak it. Spanish people are probably worse when it comes to English proficiency these days.
From my travelling experience. Italians and Spanish talk to people in English. I think once an Italian was using a Spaniard to help with their poor English. But they are better than the French and a lot more willing.
I find the French (guys) if they do talk to you they are telling you some horrific story about how they fucked some bird or how they want to fuck some bird, or talk about how everyone hates them because they are French but this after doing something to make everyone hate them personally. But normally they just hang out in a big obnoxious groups.
Weirdly. All these problems I've had with French guys, French girls seem great.