They may eventually get dragged there kicking and screaming but will milk consumers in other markets for every penny they can before that happens

Just a wild guess, but I think Apple is fully aware of this. They are intentionally keeping it separate to set a precedence that they will not bend over and let EU dictate and for the rest of the world to reap the benefit. Same with their decision to fine users for sideloading. They know it's a losing battle they are just trying to make it as difficult as possible.

Most developers won't pretend they operate in the EU because that would likely result in account loss. As for anyone actually moving there for this, I highly doubt it. Most developers who distribute on the App Store are looking for profit, not creativity. Trying to go around Apple for this sounds like risking those profits.

Furthermore the European versions won't be available outside of Europe so if anyone wants to keep their existing non-European users, they'd have to maintain two versions. That's extra work and unless there's some significant profit unlocked by the European changes, the most likely scenario is that developers would stick to whatever's allowed worldwide. Which is likely Apple's goal - comply with the regulation, while making it sufficiently undesirable for developers to change anything.

You can’t have one rule for one group of people and different rules for everyone else.

"In the name of the greatest smartphone that have ever graced this earth, we draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and say separate rules now, separate rules tomorrow, separate rules forever." -Apple, probably