Apple Loses Top Court Fight Over German Antitrust Crackdown

That's sure a step in the right direction but it still feels like a very unjustified form of rent-seeking. Ideally it should be possible to distribute an iOS app without paying a single cent to Apple and without any Apple involvement whatsoever. Same way you can distribute Android apps right now.

"A tiny, tiny fish in a big, big sea."

Nope. 1) Not all of the "EU law" behaves the same way. There are legal acts of the EU that are directly applicable (like most provisions in regulations), there are even some provisions of the primary legislation (treaties) that can be applied directly (i.e. are binding and can be litigated). Of course, there are also legal acts that need implementation (like most provisions of directives). 2) EU law is upheld both by the EU Court of Justice (Luxembourg) and national courts, this depends on the cause of action you have. 3) An "agency" has a special meaning in the EU, that doesn't mean the same thing as a federal agency in the US (as a branch of the executive). There are instead EU institutions and national public bodies (whose exact nomenclature depends on local law) that may also have the task of upholding legislation. 4) No precedents are necessary or used at the EU level. Precedents are more a common law thing, they have an explicit binding nature for courts there. While there are common law countries (Cyprus, Ireland, Malta) with precedents, their precedents have no special place or role in how EU law works, there is no stare decisis how it works in common law. So, this is a national decision based on German national enforcement reviewed by a German court.