Romania’s Social Democrats want a makeover.

The ruling PSD party, which has clashed with the European Commission and its European political family over the state of rule of law in the country, has hired Brussels lobbyists to clean up its battered image in the EU press.

The last-minute move comes ahead of the European election this weekend, with recent projections showing the party likely to score one of its weakest results in a decade.

The PSD in April hired Rud Pedersen Public Affairs, a consultancy with offices across Nordic countries and 10 staff in Brussels, which began reaching out to international media in an effort to balance what it says is a skewed perspective about the party and the situation in Romania.

The party's critics, at home and abroad, say the negative publicity is not a PR problem — but the result of efforts by the PSD to weaken the rule of law and go easy on corrupt politicians.

“We admit that, for a long time, the PSD relationship with the international press has been poor" — Olguța Vasilescu, PSD spokeswoman

Neither Rud Pedersen Public Affairs nor PSD wanted to share details of their contract, but according to the EU lobbying register, the deal with the party is worth between €25,000 and €49,999.

“We admit that, for a long time, the PSD relationship with the international press has been poor,” said PSD spokeswoman and former minister Olguța Vasilescu. “This is why, in Brussels, but also in the international press, a distorted perception was formed around the PSD, sometimes even contrary to the realities in Romania.”

The PSD, which governs in a coalition with Romania's Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE), has faced growing criticism for backtracking on the fight against corruption.

Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans, the Party of European Socialists' (PES) lead candidate in the European election, warned Romania in a letter earlier this month that Brussels is ready to escalate its actions against the country if the government pushes through any more laws perceived as weakening the independence of the judiciary and giving impunity to high-level corruption. The move came after the Commission issued several warnings on rule of law in the country.

Last month, the PES decided to freeze relations with the PSD — one of its member parties — at least until June. Romania's Western allies also recently issued a warning over the government's proposed legal changes.

The PSD hopes that Rud Pedersen Public Affairs can help change minds about the party in Brussels and beyond.

Yet a recent event at the Brussels Press Club organized by the consultancy attracted little interest. The event featured the PSD's top four candidates on its election list, who talked at length about Romania's economic growth, human rights, their personal motivation to run on the PSD list and the party’s efforts to reform the country’s justice system.

They were speaking to a nearly empty room as, apart from POLITICO, no major EU or international media outlets attended the event. Out of some 15 people present, about half were staff.

The EU lobbying registry describes the contract as being with “FTR15 on behalf of the Romanian PSD Party.” FTR15 is the company of London-based consultant Zhenya Harrison, who also works with the PSD.

Andrew Johnson, a partner at Rud Pedersen Public Affairs, said there is nothing unusual about his group's work with the PSD, saying most political parties "work with agencies to help them manage their communication."

"No matter how many millions they are spending they will never convince the free press, legal experts and European officials to close a blind eye on their actions" — Siegfried Mureşan, Romanian MEP from the opposition party

He added: “We are trying to help bring the conversation to an objective and transparent level to the EU press ... Many in the media have made up their mind about the situation in Romania and this presents us with a challenge to have a frank and objective conversation about the policies.”

But Siegfried Mureşan, a Romanian MEP with the opposition National Liberal Party (PNL), said: "The fact that they are hiring and paying consultancy companies to promote their view to the international media is once again a proof of their total lack of credibility at European level."

He added: "No matter how many millions they are spending they will never convince the free press, legal experts and European officials to close a blind eye on their actions."

POLITICO's projections for the European Parliament election put the PSD second in terms of share of the vote, on about 25 percent, and the PNL in first place on around 27 percent. In the last election in 2014, the PSD-led list won more than 37 percent.