What happens to the kids when their parents, nationals of different EU states, go their separate ways? EuroparlTV examined the case of a French-German couple.

Reporter: A European divorce with children

Love transcends all borders,  but the same cannot be said for divorces.

What happens to the children if spouses  from different EU countries separate?

In the border region of Germany and  France, EuroparlTV met a mother

who turned to the European Parliament  for help following her divorce.

We're in front of the house where I lived  with my children for over three years

and where we were when  their father took them 1.5 years ago

Saarlouis, a city named  after the Sun King.

It's only a 15 minute drive  to the French border.

The Saar region sees itself as European.

But friendships across nationalities  are not always plain sailing.

Marie Galimard-Geiss from France spent  four not very happy years of marriage here.

When the marriage broke down, she was  granted custody of their two small children.

Her German ex-husband was only  supposed to see them at weekends.

After one such weekend,  the father didn't return the children.

He argued that as she was French, there  was a risk she'd abduct them to France.

They would be beyond the reach  of German authorities and their father.

He kept the children  after their weekend visit

and told the judge that  as there was a charge against me,

I might get frightened  and flee with the children,

that I might abduct the children, in fact.

The judge transferred the right of  custody to him immediately,

without a hearing,  without verifying anything.

Marie Galimard-Geiss has hardly seen  her children, now aged 6 and 8, since then.

I cannot approach my children  without the police being called in.

So the last time my children saw me, briefly,

they saw the police arrive because of me.

These decisions are made  by the Youth Welfare Office,

an authority that has no equivalent  in France or most other EU states.

Its mission is to look  after children's welfare.

For Marie Galimard-Geiss  this meant quick decisions,

In my case, the ruling was  made as a matter of urgency,

so I was forced to open new proceedings.

They've now lasted a year and a half,  and there's still no response.

This means that the father  still has temporary custody.

The abduction charge is a serious one,  but none has taken place.

And the suspicion that  one might happen

is based above all on the fact that  the mother is not German.

The Youth Welfare Office and the local  government office were unable to tell us

what is being done to prevent  abduction charges from being misused.

Marie Galimard-Geiss thinks fundamental  EU legal norms have been breached

and asks whether  Europe has failed here.

A failure of Europe in the sense that  some German practices are against EU law.

I'm thinking in particular  of fundamental rights,

the presumption of innocence, for example,  the right to free movement,

the right to a fair trial,  the prohibition of discrimination.

The fight for her children has taken over  Marie Galimard-Geiss's life.

She has filed petitions with the European  Parliament and the French Parliament.

She has even set up an organisation  and hopes above all

that a German court will grant her  custody of her children again.

I don't work. I stopped everything  to take care of my children,