The main lobbyists in Estonia are trade and industry associations, private enterprises, consultant lobby firms and civil society organizations. Trade unions, industry associations and professional unions are the oldest and most transparent lobby groups in the country. Further distinction is made between in-house lobbyists and consultant lobbyists. Larger businesses (usually multinational) employ lawyers or have PR departments. In addition, personal contributions from CEOs are considered highly effective when lobbying politicians.

The lack of legal regulation of lobbying is a complex deficiency in the German political system, and measures relating to the regulation and transparency of lobbying need to apply for both the policymakers (the party being influenced) and the influencer (the lobbyist).

The lack of comprehensive lobbying regulation and the practice of lobbying are worrisome signs that indicate the vulnerability of democratic decision-making processes in Hungary. In the current Hungarian situation, state capture is combined with cronyism. In this special type of state capture the extensive and expansive state has been in symbiosis with some powerful business groups and oligarchs.

Lobbying in Cyprus remains unregulated and shrouded in secrecy; there is no legislation or regulation. Due to the lack of any lobbying regulation, there is no specific obligation to register lobbyists or publicly disclose the interaction between public officials and lobbyists. There is also no self-regulation of lobbyists activities and Cyprus has no professional association of lobbyists.

There are between 3000 and 4000 people professionally engaged in lobbying in Austria: 60% of them work in the chambers, an estimated 15% work in-house, about 15% work for associations and the remaining five to 10% are self-employed „agency lobbyists“. A 2014 survey of 357 members of the Economic Forum of Managers (WdF) showed that 62.2% of the Austrian companies surveyed practice lobbying. Most lobbying activity takes place in Vienna . Due to the federal structure of Austria, the number of contacts at state and local level involved in direct corporate lobbying is particularly high.

At present, UK citizens have little opportunity to understand who is lobbying whom, how, for what purpose and with what funds. While the majority of lobbying is legitimate and making a valuable contribution to policy-making, lobbying abuses and lapses in public ethics appear to occur too frequently.

Much of the problem in the UK is with rules governing politicians and officials.

1. To what extent does the law clearly and unambiguously define ‘lobbyists’ to capture all who lobby professionally including professional lobbyists, public affairs consultancies, and representatives from NGOs, corporations, industry/professional associations, trade unions, think tanks, law firms,  faith-based organisations and academics?

Given that most European countries have failed to regulate lobbying in any meaningful way, Slovenia is actually comparatively quite well advanced in this area. Progress was made with the introduction of lobbying regulations under the 'Integrity and Prevention of Corruption Act' in 2010. However, the regulation remains inadequately detailed and incomprehensive.

Lobbying, defined as the attempt by organised groups or their representatives to influence public decisions is both omnipresent and opaque in Italy. Everybody knows that lobbying is happening. Yet it is very difficult to say who is lobbying whom, through which means and to what end. The extent of risky lobbying and undue influence on public decision-making in Italy is alarming

Despite previous attempts to establish rules on lobbying, it is not regulated in Slovakia. There is no specific obligation for registration of lobbyists or reporting of contacts between public officials and lobbyists. There are no fixed set of rules governing meetings and relations between interested groups and MPs in Slovakia.