You will see Germany is down for 16 but I am told that should be regarded as provisional. Their imminent elections mean it just hasn’t been possible for the German government to take something to the Bundestag and all the  Länder in the time that was available. 

So, in effect, it is not that anyone has decided positively to endorse 16, it is just that, at the moment, the default position is the only visible show in town.

There is nothing in the Directive which says whatever age is operative next year cannot later be changed. It is not a once and for all decision. That said, it would be surprising, would it not, if 16 became the enforceable law on 25th May and then, a few days or months later it was something else? Maybe the big platforms will urge the Government to avoid such uncertainty and the possible need to chop and change and a way will be found to speed things up.

Stranger things have happened at sea.