Something is currently happening, slowly. The incentive is the number of foreign (mostly N) aircraft based in Europe.
UK and Germany have 1000+ each and that is two powerful votes with an incentive to do something.
Getting rid of these planes (which are seen to be depriving the local CAAs of license fees, and depriving flying schools of training income) with a UK DfT-style stick but without creating a legal and admin nightmare is just about impossible, so a carrot is likely to be the only way.
So we might get an accessible IR yet, but it is years away at best. A recent statement by some EASA official was that they want to create an IR which can be swapped for the FAA one. Sounds hugely promising. So long as somebody doesn't veto it.
Unfortunately this tackles just FCL. Certification is the other half; EASA will have to accept FAA cert unconditionally.
However - all you need is just one EASA member State to validate the FAA PPL/IR for use it its own registered aircraft, and not require the aircraft to spend any minimum time in that State, and does not require the owner/pilot to be a citizen, and the need for another IR goes out of the window. This is closer to reality than you might think
