Everyone has to stop thinking in UK terms and start thinking from the perspective of a European licence holder who has never held an IMC rating.
Why?
An IMCR in the UK does not infringe on the rights of other European fliers, nor does it cause them any harm. We know it enhances safety (and enjoyment) in the UK. If other countries want ratings for which there is a demand in those countries: good luck to them.
I really don't understand this mind-numbing dullness of thought that regards harmonisation as a desirable end in itself. There's a feeling that the UK is trying to "get away with something" in the IMCR, as though the rest of Europe must clamp down on an evil plot by the fiendish Brits.
We're getting wall-to-wall coverage at the moment of the events in 1989 when we really thought we were entering a new age of freedom, not a illiberal grinding down to a lowest common denominator. The vision of Europe should be about enabling, not preventing. People should stop thinking "why" and start thinking "why not".