European Union – Companies. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding that, arts 8(1), 25 and 29 of the Second Council Directive (EEC) 77/91 should be interpreted as not precluding a measure, such as the Direction Order at issue in the main proceedings in Ireland, adopted in a situation where there was a serious disturbance of the economy and the financial system of a member state threatening the financial stability of the European Union, the effect of that measure being to increase the share capital of a public limited liability company, without the agreement of the general meeting of that company, new shares being issued at a price lower than their nominal value and the existing shareholders being denied any pre-emptive subscription right.