A group of EU lawmakers has failed to curb the activities of tobacco lobbyists in Brussels, despite a push by cross-party members of the European Parliament to crack down on them. Committee leaders decided MEPs can determine themselves who they speak with, delivering a blow to a campaign for stricter lobbying rules for the sector, which was led by the Greens' Tilly Metz and the Socialists and Democrats’ Nicolás González Casares. So long as tobacco lobbyists are on the EU transparency register