The JAA is being replaced by a new organisation
Not exactly. The European Aviation Safety Agency represents another level of bureaucracy in addition to the JAA. It is to be hoped that it will adopt JARs as its standards or we shall all have to go through another disastrous changeover to a wholly new set of requirements. EASA cannot replace the JAA since there are a number of JAA member states that are not members of the EU. Whatever agreement is reached between the JAA and FAA will have no validity and will have to be renegotiated with EASA when it takes responsibility for licensing. Given the rumour that the French delegate to the latest JAA/FAA meeting was arrested on arrival in PHI and sent home on the next flight, agreement between a French dominated EASA and the FAA is not going to be easy!
EASA has recently published a consultative paper and proposed 'Essential Requirements for Pilot Proficiency', which, if nothing else, prove that the people responsible for implementing EU licensing rules do not have the first idea of what pilot licensing is all about.
Oh, and the EU, not (yet) being a Sovereign State, is not a signatory to the Chicago Convention.