Technology

The EU doesn’t want anything, but the people involved in this decision absolutely wanted to regulate this.

I don't know what kind of distinction you want to drive at, here. Yes, of course, EU regulations are passed by the parliament. The commission also wanted it in some form. Generally speaking there was no real stiff opposition as pretty much everyone in politics can get something out of it, Greens get their environmentalism, the rest of the parliament and the commission get positive publicity.

It’s also not because of “well, Apple”. This law doesn’t apply to phones alone, it’s pretty much any mobile device.

Apple was the one not switching their phones over, thus the EU (as in "it's amorphous collective blob of decision-making") came to see that they'd indeed needed to pass legislation, asking wasn't enough.

It also, and this is one of the big and important parts, requires manufacturers to offer the option to NOT have chargers included.

Indeed.

Lastly, while the law itself doesn’t require USB C, the legal annex absolutely and quite explicitly DOES state that manufacturers must use USB C.

Yes that's the starting point. It's been a while since I looked at the text but the commission is empowered to update that part. That's why it's in an annex and not the legal text proper.