Is the board neutrality rule trivial? amnesia about corporate law in European takeover regulation

In 2004, after a long and difficult legislative process, the European Union adopted the Takeover Directive. 1 The final product was widely viewed as a failure. 2 For many it represented yet another example of how politics and interest groups interfere with the introduction of the regulation necessary for creating a level playing field in corporate law in the European Union; another example of how domestic politics gets in the way of advancing the overall economic interests of the Union and its Member States.