I did read that the gateways were frozen for the time. I was generalizing for all of us, as every pilot will be impacted by this ruling if they work for a company in another country and have a "base." Every company will be impacted as well. Imagine the nightmare situation for a large company with many employees spread all over the EU.
Each of these countries have differing rules and the book-keeping function will have to learn all these country rules and processes. It can be difficult to understand the rules in one's own country at times......but 23 sets of rules?
I understood the base freeze was temporary in NJ case, as they are trying to get a handle on the implications, but it looks grim for the French and Belgian based.
It is in a way another case of pulling one leg of the table and being surprised that the other three move as well. This regulation was addressed at one aspect and no one thought about the other aspects, it seems. So someone is feeling smug, that they will get some money into their country coffers. The end result, might be that the impacted pilot either moves or becomes unemployed. In either case, the money his family previously spent locally on clothing, shoes, meals, supermarkets, services etc, will now go elsewhere. Net result is less money in circulation, fewer jobs and in an even worse case, a ward of the unemployment office is created out of a former net positive contributor.
I remember when ports in Norway were required to be "self-financed." It sounds good, doesn't it? The port income and the port expenses should be in balance. What happens in reality though, is that the port fees go up so high, that the ships go to other ports, making the remaining ships pay even more. As ships leave, the radar repairman, the dry dock, the painters and carpenters, the chandlers, and their families are out of jobs. The end result is that the largest port in Norway is now in Sweden! So many goods arrive "in Norway," via GØteborg and are driven in by lorries.
"Well yes, but it is a principle of this government that the ports and administrations other places be user-financed." Again, sounds good.....net results---closed airports, closed or reduced ports, high costs of licenses.