I am normally against more regulation, but in this case I'd welcome the legal obligation for everyone to at least perform the LPC in an approved simulator. Valid for the entire region regulated by JARs, starting by a certain date.
This would create a level playing field for all. Every operator could do their last ever LPC in an airplane just before the cut-off date and then it's a fair game.
Let's face it: if you weren't forced to comply with all the CRM, fire-fighting, DGR and what-have-you courses, you'd simply skip them for cost reasons. But you can't.