Correct, merchants do not charge interchange, banks/networks do, and its dumb because it increases the costs of doing business in the EU (which as I said, makes it more insular)
Fees are not the only cost of business, compliance is too - and things like if you want to enjoy lower intra-EU costs then you need to be in the EU which is an added cost as a non-EU business, etc - it's not as simple as "fees more eu bad"
You're kind of agreeing at this point, despite what the EU believe they are not self sufficient and require international business - the only people who lose out by that not happening are citizens and there are already enough reasons doing business (or even buying) stuff from outside the EU is a tedious and expensive chore
The only businesses suffering from the cap are issuing banks.