I think there is genuine frustration at the behaviour of arrogant French bureaucrats brought up in the Napoleonic tradition who pervade the EU institutions, which themselves were thought up by Jaques Delors the archetypal French Bureaucrat.
In the UK we have a tradition of agreeing rules and sticking to them and this makes the situation with EU very difficult. In France the bureaucrats are tolerated in their inventing of daft rules as long as they don't interfere too much with everyday activities and when they do the French remind them of their place by blocking motorways, ports etc. until the bureaucrats retire to their desks.