Its nothing to do with whether the piece of paper makes you safe or not, it is just down to the way that European law is rather archaically written. To change it would involve huge effort and expense which is a bit pointless just to save you waiting for a bit of paper to be sent out.
Not sure what the fuss is about really. Its going to get dark every day right until the point when the sun goes out permanently so it's not like you have a dwindling opportunity.....