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With a new directive on tobacco being passed and the negotiations for a trade deal with the US getting started, 2013 has seen intense lobbying battles and CEO has been following them closely. The ban on some bee-killing pesticides, the investment arbitration boom and conflicts of interests at the European Food Safety Authority have also been among the hottest issues in CEO's research and campaigning work. Here are the most read stories this year, according to our website statistics. Have you missed any of them?

Corporate Europe Observatory has written a letter to EFSA, to urge the food safety agency to take concrete steps to ban conflicts of interest on its expert panels. A short report published by CEO and Beelife titled "OPERA Research Center, a front group for the pesticide industry in the bee debate", attached to the letter, shows that this list needs urgent and critical revision.

Yesterday (19 December 2013) the Ombudsman published a damning report into the European Commission's re-appointment of a lawyer with links to the tobacco industry to its ad hoc ethical committee. Here NGOs comment on the ruling which could set an important precedent on handling possible conflicts of interest in the future.

Huge unclarity remains about what was actually decided last week about the future of the EU's lobby transparency register at the final meeting of the group of MEPs and Commission officials tasked with reviewing the register.

Transparency campaigners today welcomed the announcement that Michel Petite has been replaced as chair of the Commission's ad hoc ethical committee, following a complaint to the European Ombudsman.

Yesterday's meeting between the European Commission, Parliament and Council to decide on F-gas legislation was the disappointing end to a two-year lobby battle. The EU's discussions over potential bans on F-gases – powerful greenhouse gases known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), used in refrigeration and air conditioning systems – are a textbook case of how a concerted lobbying campaign by a polluting industry can weaken legislation desperately needed to fight the climate crisis.

Very soon, the ministers of all EU countries will decide whether Pioneer's GM maize (technical name 1507) will be allowed to be grown in Europe. We are calling on you to take action now!

As U.S. and EU trade officials meet in Washington this week for a third round of negotiations on the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement, nearly 200 environmental, consumer and labor groups have urged EU and US officials not to include an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism in the deal. Corporate Europe Observatory is one of these groups.