If I read that article correctly, the earlier incident concerned gross mishandling by the crew who first allowed the aeroplane to stall (stick push?) and then applied massive, alternating rudder inputs to control the wing drop in the stall.
The fin did not separate and Airbus say that although it was cracked, it did not lose structural integrity.
Did it not occur to the airline that they might like to inspect something to a greater degree than the minimum, regulatory standard? Rules are rules and a minimum standard is set - but no-one says that you have to work DOWN to the minimum.
Remember, following the minimum schedule gave us the Aloha Airlines 737 convertible - so it's not one way traffic from Toulouse, Seattle does it too!