I'm sure its been mentioned by a few on here, wasn't there a directive passed by the EU/EC allowing customers to choose roaming network when travelling within the EU?

As I understand it your home network is supposed let you choose the network you wanted to roam on or rather provided a cheaper way.

Have I explained that right?

If so what happened to it?

You can certainly sign up to an ARP for Europe... However there isn't anyone actually selling it.

Plus, it'll be redundant soon. A complete waste of money to implement.

Apple implemented a switch in settings called "EU Roaming" which only works if you have an alternate roaming provider.