It would appear that Garmin may have fixed the problem
I have used the "Change Map" facility in Garmin Express and have downloaded and installed my correct map version.

Apparently not in my case, only get the North in the usual way, I re-installed two times. Workaround so far: i pulled out the SD-Card, tried to re-install, and than I got the Option Western Europe, installed that, and tada... it seems to work. I do not know exactly what kind of maps I bought with the satnav some 7 years ago but I guess it was not full Europe so the update process got confused and gave me maps I do not need and refused to give me France and Italy which I do need.
Funny thing is, basecamp gets the right maps right from the start.