Yes, the EU only mandated that the industry choose a common standard so they picked the cheapest of all the options they had. With the newer spec you can indeed

Yes, the EU only mandated that the industry choose a common standard so they picked the cheapest of all the options they had. With the newer spec you can indeed draw more power but it requires hardware negotiation to prevent older devices catching on fire. Some of the other options on the table at the time were much more elegant and extensible to, for example, household appliances (USB is not allowed for use in the bathroom or kitchen). The other options were a few cents per connector more expensive so they never had a chance when the EU decided to leave it to the industry.