Which is fair; I shouldn't have to ask for consent from the user to have analytics on my site. Having analytics is a necessary part of running a web app successfully.

This doesn't imply GA, sending data to a third party (and one of the worst offenders with respect to privacy at that). The same can be achieved solely by first party means. It's just not that convenient.

I don't think the EU would agree with that, but IANAL.

I don't care what the EU agrees to, there's this thing called national sovereignty; I'm not subject to the laws of every country that simply asserts I am. The world cannot function if we're subject to every law every country decides to claim we're subject to.