Something else to keep i mind, your license never actually expires, it is your medical that puts a 5 year "expiration date" on the license, no medical, invalid license. So five years from the date of your medical exam your license is invalid. Then you have all the recency requirements on top of that to stay current
Wrong.
A JAR-FCL PPL(A) has to be re-issued every 5 years (for no real reason) irrespective of medical validity or anything else.
It will not be re-issued unless you have a valid JAA Class 2 or JAA Class 1 medical certificate.