I was on course to become a BD*G for life and credited most of my SK flights to BD at the time; but the BA takeover of my BD Diamond Club account balance ended that and scarred me for life.
[I'll probably never end up as a BA elite for life from my use of the BA FFP; but, as I have lifetime elite status in Oneworld, I am not interested in getting further into it with BA.]
While European FFPs offering lifetime elite status is indeed younger than is the case for some US FFPs, some current or past European FFP or another has had lifetime elite status going on for at least 8+ years (if not even longer).