Yep, I'd have to agree that the likelihood of the JAA adopting FAR 121 based Dispatch requirement is very remote. There is however, no less of a need for European based Ops officers to exercise much the same disciplines with repsect to ground to air support. Although, I naturally exclude the requirement for a flight release and the joint responsibilites. Operational Control as defined in JAROPS does place clear responsibilites on the carrier to monitor its flight operations within a flight following system, that needs personnel with a solid background in flight ops studies. (and I don't exclude the need for more training for Crewing Officers in this either)
It is the one main reason you see me harping on about the vital importance of a minimum standard of training in flight ops studies and technical knowledge, ideally, backed by some form of industry recognised certification. That opportunity is not so far away if the JAA adopt the ICAO standard for Flight Ops Officers and Flight Dispatchers.
The other, little spoken of issue, in all this is has to do with pilot confidence in the ops bods. Now before you start, I am not saying that they don't have confidence in most of you already, they probably do, however, if your training is to standard close to theirs (as it is with the FAA and the ICAO Licence) then they will recognise this over time and we will inevitably provide a higher standard of service to our crews and the role of the Ops officer will take on a higher status- which is good for the airlines, good for our crews and most of all good for ops officers.