Do you need to be an "official" nonprofit, or is it sufficient just to have an app which generates no revenue? If the former, how difficult/expensive is that in the EU?
You only need a single nonprofit that creates an F-Droid alternative, and then it can distribute other’s open-source projects freely
Yeah, the non-profit organization requirement is insurance for Apple that you aren't making money off your app some other way. Yeah, it's inconvenient for people who legitimately want to give stuff away for fun, but it isn't an insurmountable obstacle.
Depends on the country, but in The Netherlands it’s around 500ish to set up a Stichting (foundation) plus some annual fees.
The main obstacle I see is the €1mm letter of credit, to be honest.