Aren't gold and silver for frequent flyers?
That means flying monthly at least IMO. Of you're euro based that mean getting silver through 50 flights, even if you're short haul only.
If you fly in premium cabins like people here assume, you'll be getting at least 200 tp for each return for WTP (10+90+90+10). In J that's 360 return.
5 j returns from Europe is not frequent, but is enough to get gold. 2 J returns (3 in wtp) a year keeps silver.
Tier points aren't really matched with spend. You get the same for a sale T fare as a full W. sale I fares are sometimes cheaper than W fares, yet get 60% more tier ponts.
People flying regularly on short CE flights from Europe seem the only ones that suffer - you now need 19 returns to get gold rather than 10.