I opened my email this morning, and I was surprised to see a reply to my dramatic email to one of my MEP's, complaining about my situation. Long story short, as far as the MEP is concerned, I have to be already residing in France, before the EU Directive takes effect. I don't. There is nothing in the directive stating explicitly that the EU Citizen needs to be already living in the EU Country, before my non-EU spouse can join me. I cannot help but think that this particular MEP may have seen my rantings on this issue elsewhere, and probably knew i'd make a song and dance of it, if none of the MEP's respond - especially since I have media contacts. Anyway - she 'sympathized' with my case. Here is her email to me:
"But in order to help, I need to know if you are resident in France or just intending to visit, as this makes a big difference. The EU Directive you refer to, 2004/38/EC only applies (see Art 3) to "Union citizens who move to or reside in a Member State other than that of which they are a national, and to their family members as defined in point 2 of Article 2 who accompany or join them."
So the Directive's definition of 'free movement' is restricted to those EU citizens with their families who can show that they live in another Member State other than their own, for example if you as a British citizen had moved to live in France. When that Directive refers to 'treaty rights'having been exercised, it means that the person has changeg their residence to another EU country.
If you are still resident in the UK, you are of course able to travel to France or another EU country without a visa, but they can require your husband to have a visa. There is no right derived from your UK citizenship for your husband to travel visa-free.
The Member State to whom you apply for a visa can unilaterally decide what criteria to impose, within the bounds of Regulation 810/2009 which lays down the EU rules for the issuing of visas.
However, if you do indeed reside in France and communicated this to the French consulate but still had difficulties, then do contact us again.
If you are interested to read in detail about the visa processing criteria EU Member States must follow, you can study the Visa Processing Handbook produced by the European Commission in 2010, see HERE. It explains for example on page 47 which documents should be submitted in support of an application for a visa."
This is the document she is referring me to:
http://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/polici ... 620_en.pdf