It's the inverse problem. EU wants anyone to be able to install a different AI agent onto their phone with the same access as Siri. Apple says "no- we need time to figure out how that would work, we want other agents to meet the same privacy standards of PCC/on-device that Siri uses". Which EU said no.

I don't think there's a clear good guy/bad guy here.

Yep. Clash of priorities at a given time/deadline.

This one does not appear to be Apple being a dick, like they have been on the App Store and a number of other things.