I totally agree with much of your post, however I do have some misgivings with respect to the “regulatory world wide group”. My not inconsiderable experience in time within the engineering aspects of the aerospace industry does not give me confidence in many of the worlds aviation regulatory authorities. Some of them authorities dating back to the beginnings of aviation.
EASA has not in my opinion shown a great improvement in standards but rather the “dumbing down” to the lower. For example back in the 1990s the UK CAA were very reluctant to just accept the B737-500 series insisting on a host of additional requirements for the grant of Uk certification and were against further “grandfathering” by Boeing for the 737 series. This was not the story in many of the EU nations. This predated full EASA authority.. I have much personal experience of rejecting US originated STCs fully approved by the FAA but woefully short of meeting UK requirements.
History tends to confirm my opinion.