How little things change twenty years ago when i was doing the PPL i had in total 32 X-C flights called off and then no one had heard of the JAA it was all down to the WX.
In the long run i dont see the JAA requirment making a lot of diference to the time it takes to no a PPL but the fact that you cant take the skil test befor you have done all the trainning has some logic.