There are obvious reasons to do so to combat crime but at the expense of privacy, freedom, and anonymity.
And I've quite been happy to see Apple stand up against such government control but fear the trend this will set.
This is a continuous concern - some sectors of the EU indeed want to do that. So far, they've been mostly unsuccessful in getting their agenda through, either because other politicians have more influence, or due to listening to public protest/complaints. Still, that's no different than other healthy democracies - the people must vote, both in national elections (EU heads of state propose the European Commission's president to the Parliament), and European elections (who elect said Parliament) in order to keep reasonable people at the helm as much as possible.
Where, exactly?
Apple complies readily with thousands of warrantless surveillance requests[0] from around the world, every year. They've been a cardholding PRISM program member for over a decade, and just a few months ago admit that push notifications are also government-monitored[1].
Outside of eagerly marketed examples like San Bernadino, Apple appears utterly compliant with government control.
[0] https://www.apple.com/legal/transparency/
[1] https://www.macrumors.com/2023/12/06/apple-governments-surve...