Couple of points:
1. My (very wise) instrument instructor warned me that in Europe I must inform ATC and request a "practice" approach if it's not real IMC/IFR. I don't know where/whether this is in the rules, but home base certainly insists on ILSes being "booked" in advance if it's VMC.
2. The FAA IR can be kept up to date with approaches flown under the hood to minima, with a safety pilot. Or that's what I told the examiner when I did mine, and he didn't tell me I was wrong. How else would you keep your IR current in the "clear" parts of the USA?