About 15 mins ago I was talking to the Head of Medical Division here in Latvia because I'm in the process of converting my licence. He told me that they have had a number of people coming from the UK to get their initials over here, although this is more a consideration of cost.
I have a medical on Thursday so I should be able to offer a straight renewal comparison after that.
The standard I think should be identical through all JAA states, but I shall ask them about this when I go for mine - watch this space!
And add to this that a medical issued in one JAA state should be valid in all the others. My UK medical has been valid here, and the Latvian medical I will get on Thursday should be recognised in any other state.