That's recently (and silently as far as I can tell) changed for me, I now get a fairly good google search on Firefox on Android.

However you're right in general Google are using the position to enforce Chrome

Doesn't surprise me. The EU should fine Google for a lot of things, including that.

There's always duckduckgo, though.

That's been fixed recently but there is another issue - Google search results from the home screen always open in a Chrome view, even if your default browser is Firefox. You end up with an awkward mix of Chrome and Firefox.

Those rare folks who prefer older Google interfaces might actually consider this a feature, a nice additional reason to ditch modern Chrome.

Can you give more details?