Sorry Brendan, I can see we're not going to agree on much. I don't have much time for the UK Independence Party, but they are gaining support, and it's what is seen as unnecessary standardisation and bureaucracy that drives their support.
I am saying that the French Mountain Airport Rating is not a national rating now so why should it be in the future. You as a UK pilot are required to obtain the rating before operating to the designated aerodromes. All EASA are going to do is enable you to have it on your licence even if that licence was obtained in the UK.
The Mountain Rating is actually a restriction of your privileges. The IMC rating is an extension of your privileges. Do you see the difference?
No, I'm afraid I don't. I need the Mountain rating to fly to certain airfields in France. In the UK you need to have an IMCR (or IR) to fly IMC. And the difference is?
Your long explanation of VFR limits really makes no sense to me. Or rather, I can't see the relevance. I don't even think you're inference is right. I can explain my view much more succinctly:
a) To undertake an IMC flight with only en-route capability requires near-certainty of cloud base above MSA at the destination (or alternate).
b) To undertake an IMC flight with an IMC rating requires near-certainty of cloud base above 500 feet AGL (assuming the destination or alternate has an ILS).
In the UK the number of occasions the weather meets (b) is many times the number of occasions it meets (a).
I have flown in the UK. There are many aerodromes on the 4 volmets. Many more have ATIS. The FIS can provide weather for many more. Making the argument that it is hard to keep abreast of the weather at destination and alternate(s) while enroute IFR does nothing for the IMC case - it is required at the moment to ensure that the IMC minima are OK. So nothing changes there.
That's right but not relevant. My point is that you can't safely set out with an en-route only IMC capability unless you are
virtually certain that the cloud base at your destination or alternate will be above MSA. As I explained above, that occurs much much less frequently than the IMC Rating minima for an instrument approach. That's why we want the IMC Rating.