European safety nets, and government grants have helped open source projects a lot, and this is a big reason almost all of these projects end up being developed/maintained by folks from EU. Even if the sponsorships could hire 2-3x as much man power elsewhere in the world.

Another big thing is govt aligned sponsorships are not for software but for generating jobs/work within their borders.

Yes, but SF salaries are still twice German salaries and probaby 4x Eastern Europe salaries.