FIE licences

This just in from the Legalese Department:

The FIE's organization rules for FIE competitions state

• o.15 c) When expatriate fencers take part in a poule, they must first fence the fencers of their original nationality, after they have fenced among themselves, and then against the nationals of the country through which they are licensed.
  

Does this mean a fencer could be licensed by a country other that the one that he is a national of, or is it just allowing for changes of nationality? It seems the first is the case, since the FIE's statutes require any fencer living abroad to be licensed by his country of residence, not nationality:

• 9.1.5 c) If a fencer lives in a country other than his own, he must apply for his licence to the member federation of the country in which he lives. It is strictly forbidden for a fencer to possess more than one international licence. [...]
  
• 9.1.5 d) When a fencer is only visiting another country, he must request his licence to the member federation of his onw country (or to the country where he resides, if he resides in a different country from the country of his nationality).
  

Expatriate fencers are considered by the FIE as having double nationality for the purposes of licensing, and for configuring poules in international competitions. This is explicitly stated in the statutes:

• 9.2.1 When a question of nationality is raised in the application of the Statutes and Rules (fencers, granting licences, etc.), the fencer residing in a country other than his own must be considered as belonging to both countries.

Fair enough. So, if I move to the UK and I plan on taking part in a international (non-FIE) competitions, I must apply for a British licence. The problem is, the British Fencing Association warns licences are British; if you compete internationally for any other country you must apply via that country. This is because, according to the FIE statutes, with a British licence I would then be barred from participating in any official FIE competitions (including satellite events, which I believe are open):

• 9.2.3 For official competitions of the FIE, competitors must be strictly of the nationality of the country they are representing.

What! This makes it impossible for serious competitive fencers to move out of their home country! I am making the resonable assumption that "the country you are licensed by" is "the country you represent". It is not even clear to me that I could fence outside FIE events with a British FIE licence for a period of five years, according to the following article:

• 9.2.4 In the case of other international competitions, the FIE, although still in favour of the same rules, while preferring that the same rules be respected, is more tolerant in the matter of countries represented as long as foreigners have actually been residing for five consecutive years in the country which they are invited to represent, and have not represented their own country for five years.
  

Forgive my disrespect of the FIE, but this stuff is ridiculous. I am going to contact the Spanish and British federations for clarification, then maybe even the FIE itself. In fact, I think this nonsense violates EU law regarding the free movement of persons among EU member states. In the EU, the issue of residence is not so clear-cut any more either, as one is allowed to register to vote in local and European elections in one's country of residence, and to vote in regional and national elections in one's country of nationality. I should actually contact the EU, too, maybe they can force the FIE to change these stupid rules.