The EU is a laughable bunch of bureaucrats, if you have your hopes on them to fix anything you have to be highly delusional.
What the EU, specifically Germany and France, need right now is massively strengthening their industries. If we don't do that, your dreams of public infrastructure are irrelevant, as they are funded directly by German and French industry.
Yes they are too bureaucratic. No, they do eventually change things. GDPR, DSA, net neutrality. Our customer rights are a lot healthier than in the US.
It's not a race to be the biggest. I don't care about more spending power. Look at the US where you can buy so much but only get 10 holidays per year to enjoy it and stressing about losing healthcare when you lose your job. Which can happen from one day to the next "at will". And still not being able to buy a house.
The German and French industries have bought their respective countries a significant amount of wealth. Specifically the German industry always had a far better relationship to their labor compared to many other places.
Since WW2 those industries have practically guaranteed piece of mind and an enjoyable life for the populations at large, even paying for the social safety nets available to all.
The EU has done many things to make those industries less competitive, some of those I don't even disagree with (e.g. data protection, some repairability stuff, etc.), but they absolutely do need to be careful not to overstep it. And this care is not something I have ever seen from the EU.
What the EU, specifically Germany and France, need right now is massively strengthening their industries. If we don't do that, your dreams of public infrastructure are irrelevant, as they are funded directly by German and French industry.