....
I have a video of a barge canal trip throughout France, Germany, etc.,
made by an Englishman. His vessel is a barge home pushed by a tugboat.

In several places he was forbidden to proceed until he had added some
pretty stupid equipment, required by the bureaucrats...

Sounds like one of those videos that's really funny unless you have to
foot the bill... I'm no lawyer, and it took several lawyers (working
for free) to convince NZ to abide by their agreements. I hate to think
what it would take to move the EU. Also, I'm pretty sure that the
SOLAS/IMO stuff only applies to international waters. So I don't
think it would have helped you friend navigating on inland waters.

-- Tom.