Ah ok, UK based is 12 months flexi as is Germany. You can't work in France as flex (I'm pretty sure) and presume the same for Italy. The transfer lists to european contracts are quite long at the mo so I doubt you'd be offered a euro contract straight away. That would go against the agreed new entrant procedure anyway which stipulates 12 months flex as a "probationary period"… The only caveat to the above is if the company can't crew the 3 new bases with current staff and offer those directly.
Edited to add: I haven't got any extra cover other than what the company provide.