Politicians should beware of unintended consequences. An “EU fair competition” surcharge may be necessary to keep products sold in the EU profitable, based on any requirements they might wish to impose.
It’s hard to say how much that surcharge might be, but I don’t think companies would be willing to sell their products in the EU at prices that don’t provide equal profit per device as similar non-EU markets.
If the increased regulations were to deprive the platform owner of €100 in profit over the life of the phone, for example, prices will simply increase €100 per device.
The surcharge might be €100, 200, 300 or €1,000+, hard to say without knowing the extent of the new legislation. To make it more affordable, Google/Apple could just make it a monthly subscription and charge $2-$20 (or whatever) each month for EU device owners.
Then, if the user doesn’t pay before the first of the next month, the phone could simply lock out (or encrypt) everything except for a phone app that would be limited to dialing the local emergency services, and an “EU fair competition” app.
That app would allow payment of the monthly tax directly to Apple, Google or other platform owner. Or actually it would probably be best to pay the EU fair competition authority itself, so they could keep control over the proper surcharge and prevent companies from overcharging customers unfairly.
The fair competition authority would then forward the payment to the appropriate party—Apple, Google or whoever—after taking a small administrative cut. It wouldn’t have to add much, maybe 15-30% or so, to keep the agency self-funding. That way they can continue to keep the playing field level for all.