Because the U.K. CAA have been guardians of those licences and since the 1st of Jan there has been no official oversight of the CAA by EASA. So the U.K. CAA could have done anything to those licences without EASA officially knowing. We know they haven’t in practical terms but officially EASA doesn’t. It is bureaucracy pure and simple but that’s the whole point of a rules based organisation. It is that simple. Without official oversight since the first of Jan those licences no longer comply as EASA licences and so cannot be converted to them without following the official procedure. It comes down to as simple a statement as rules is rules. And EASA (nor any EASA member NAA) cannot unilaterally change their own rules without approval through the EU rules making mechanism. But as has been stated it is what the U.K. wished for and has left MANY professionals high and dry.