They do not need, they want and they don't want to pay Apple.
Are you also one of the people, who would argue, that you can build you own road network, if you don't like the terms on the current road network?
Luckily it is not you who are going to work on these regulations, but people who actually care about free markets (how ironic that the EU is the progressive one on the question of freedom).
Yep, but not interstate roads. You can also buy a pocket calculator, which in your analogy is the private road.
You go with you conspiracy theories.
The explicit goal of the DMA is to open up the market. I can only recommend you to read a bit more about it: https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/index_en
As a matter of practical advice, there are optional filter lists for uBlock Origin that block the vast majority of consent popups. I barely see any these days.
It was not part of GDPR, GDPR also says that giving and removing consent should be equally easy and not remove functionality (like disabling the whole website with a transparent black background) hence the vast majority of the cookie banners are illegal.
Blame companies for illegal behaviour, the EU's rules are supposed to give you the information about how/where your private information is being shared. That's genius, and you should be grateful that now you know how much your personal information leaks.