Are there any signs that anyone is taking this up, reports from Limoges suggest not?
Good question - I'm surprised there are as many as 2000 PPLs (FFA estimate) interested in this rating.
From what I've seen, there's virtually zero interest amongst pilots at our club. The widely held perception is that it's a national rating, and therefore "no good". There's little or no appreciation of the wider context (EASA) and the negotiations apparently going on in the background. Nor have I seen much communication or information - a couple of articles in "Info Pilote", I think, but that's it, really. Times are hard, of course, and clubs have little interest in nudging members to spend money flying elsewhere.
I reckon virtually all GA flying in France is done in a club context, in club aircraft, and
tends to be low and local. Very few pilots undertake flights of any real distance. Consequently, there are very few clubs with IFR-equipped aircraft: there just isn't the demand. I'd imagine you really need to have your own aircraft to get much use out of this rating. And guess what? Most owners fly N-reg machines..
So I can't imagine Limoges is deluged, but I hope I'm wrong, it would be great to see this take off in a big way.