help with passport time please

[MelC]

my husband and I wish to travel from tunisia to italy, i am british, trying to get an appointment at the embassy has been a pain and have had to involve SOLVIT! so we are delayed by some time!

while all this goes on in the background i notice my hubbies passport now only has 4 month validity left ~

the directive only states a valid passport ~ can the 6 months on a passport be imposed? if it were not so hard to leave tunisia we would go without the visa, hubby has slumped to an all time low today when he has thought about it, i am trying to get around it if need be ~ we want to leave first week of Nov, it is not possibble to get a replacement passport,
it can take months!

our problem is going to be with port officals at the ferry port, if my hubby doesn't have the visa ~

based on all that i have read it only states VALID passport, and of course he would renew in italy, but do these two statments conflict?

schengen border rules
3.1.2 However, if a person enjoying the Community right of free movement does not have the necessary travel documents or, if required, the necessary visas, the Member State concerned must, before turning him/her back, give such person every reasonable opportunity to obtain the necessary documents or have them brought to him/her within a reasonable period of time or corroborate or prove by other means that he/she is covered by the right of free movement.

Directive 2004/38
Article 5.1

Right on Entry
1. Without prejudice to the provisions on travel documents applicable to national border controls, Member States shall grant Union citizens leave to enter their territory with a valid identity card or passport and shall grant family members who are not nationals of a Member State leave to enter their territory with a valid passport.

it only states VALID ~ not valid as per international regulations on travel or whatever its name actually is that a person must have 6 months on their passport ~

i have had to fight tooth and nail to get an appointment which hubby doesn't yet have, and have previous emails from the italian embassy stating they don't want to deny rights to anyone, and they have even changed thier website after the issues i raised then, since then no response form them, causing the passport problem ~ anyone know if the passport expiring in jan is going ot be a problem?
thanks