The French IR is a curious thing.
On the face of it it "has" to end when EASA FCL comes along.
But there is no way the French were going to set this up, with all the supporting infrastructure, only to terminate it in April 2012.
They obviously plan to carry on with it.
And if you look at today's EU power balance, in the wake of the Greek de facto default and the Italian near-meltdown, - it is basically Germany and France calling the shots. Germany is not going to tell France to not do something, and nobody else counts anyway.
The UK, OTOH, has a very long history of being very honourable and following the letter of every treaty they sign... well in the last few decades, anyway
The political climate in the EU is changing, despite EASA clinging onto its gravy trains, but the UK doesn't have the balls to take advantage of it. They could do so, in today's climate, but they won't.
Or maybe the CAA has plans but are keeping their powder dry, which is what I would do
We live in interesting times, not just in aviation
