> The EU regulation, as-is, simply will not allow a new technically superior connector to enter the market.

As in: the EU regulation literally addresses this. You'd know it if you didn't blindly repeat uneducated talking points by others who are as clueless as you are.

> Standardization like this is difficult to achieve via consensus - but via policy/regulation?

In the ancient times of 15 or so years ago every manufacturer had their own connector incompatible with each other. There would often be connectors incompatible with each other within a single manufacturer's product range.

The EU said: settle on a single connector voluntarily, or else. At the time the industry settled on micro-USB and started working on USB-C. Hell, even Power Delivery wasn't standardized until USB-C.

Consensus doesn't always work. Often you do need government intervention.