EU urged to adopt strict lobbyist rules

European Union governments and institutions must adopt robust rules for powerful lobbies seeking to shape laws and policy or face the risk of corruption, anti-graft watchdog Transparency International warned on Wednesday.

The 19 EU countries and three EU institutions studied in a new report by the watchdog scored an average of 31 out of 100 when measured against international lobbying standards.

Hungary and Cyprus came lowest in the ranking, scoring only 14, while Slovenia came out best with a middling 55.