Traditions and school systems in Europe are hard to compare, therefore the different forms of acceleration and their acceptance differ widely. States that have had a post-war system of promoting intellectually gifted children usually offer enrichment as well as acceleration. In states where gifted education is still in its infancy acceleration often hardly exists, sometimes it's not even imaginable. To improve the situation for gifted children so that acceleration becomes one option open to them, research as well as the spreading of knowledge of the results of that research should be encouraged. The gifted would also benefit from a European network promoting acceleration as an option. (Contains 3 figures.)