There is zero prospect of an FAA-like IR here.
The European regulators just hold up their hands and say "we are Europeans, not Americans, and we must have European solutions".
They may as well say "computer says NO".
There is some work ongoing at EASA committee level on this, as discussed here already recently. But the end result will be nowhere near the FAA IR, in the sense of a single exam, and being able to pop into your old PPL school and do it flying out of there under a hood - these factors are what make is so accessible in the USA. Due to political (protectionist) factors these bits will not happen here in Europe.
One could hope for this IR to be modular and perhaps one of the lower modules having some IFR privileges, and the IMCR then grandfathering into one of these modules, perhaps with a checkride or whatever.
The pressure for a solution will become pretty massive nearer the day
