Like most Airbus products, lazy maintenance crew as well as the management sought the cheapest and fastest option!
Explain the relationship between Airbus products and "lazy maintenance crew"
So when the same ECAM message came about inflight on that tragic day, the first officer was put in control and he got off his seat and resetted the circuit breaker behind his seat. That triggered an a rudder control reaction causing the f/o to overcontrol with abrupt inputs to the side stick and rudder pedals.
Which CB's were pulled? FAC1? FAC2? FAC1+2. You pointed the problem to be an RTLU failure, in that case if you disable the valid FAC/RTLU you will end up with a full rudder deflection authority. At this FL/Mach if you don't care your rudder orders... no comments!