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On 16/11/2023, the Council and the European Parliament reached a preliminary agreement on a draft EU law aimed at improving the investigation and prosecution of environmental crimes. The Directive defines environmental crimes more precisely and sets minimum rules for the definition of offences and sanctions to better protect the environment. It will also harmonise the levels of penalties for natural and legal persons in EU Member States.
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The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) needs at least 50 staff and €15 million to be able to assess the risks of pesticides and approve alternatives more quickly. EFSA has long warned that it lacks the resources to modernise and speed up pesticide risk assessments, which is why EFSA's Executive Director Bernhard Url has asked the European Parliament for more funding. According to the Executive Director, neither EFSA nor Member States have the resources to ensure that all assessments are carried out in time, nor that methodologies for new and low-risk alternative pesticides are developed in time. EFSA currently employs around 60 staff dedicated to pesticide evaluation, but this number would need to be increased by at least another 50. The budget should also be doubled - EFSA is currently working with €15 million for work on pesticides, but to really make the transition from synthetic pesticides to alternatives, EFSA's budget would need to be increased to €30 million. According to the Executive Director, the increase in staff and budget could also help to provide more data on the real impact of pesticides on biodiversity.

The European Commission is allocating €185.9 million in 2024 for a promotion policy for agri-food products in the EU and beyond. The aim of the promotion policy work programme is to develop new market opportunities for EU farmers and the European food industry as a whole, while strengthening the sustainability of their existing activities. In addition to increasing the sustainable production and consumption of agricultural products, the initiative also supports the sustainable recovery of the EU agri-food sector in a difficult economic context. The promotion campaigns selected in 2024 will highlight products derived from sustainable agricultural practices. Details have not yet been published.
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On 16/11/2023, the European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (COMAGRI) unanimously adopted a draft own-initiative opinion on the revision of the so-called breakfast directives. The revision of the four breakfast directives concerns honey, fruit juices, jams/marmalades/jellies and condensed and powdered milk for human consumption. COMAGRI's opinion includes changes aimed at protecting the honey sector from adulteration and fraud, introducing a traceability system for honey production, and increasing the minimum fruit content of jams and jellies. The proposal will also be voted on by the European Parliament's Committee on the Environment (COMENVI) on 29/11/2023.
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Maroš Šefčovič, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, has launched the Commission's strategic dialogues with the agri-food sector, with talks so far underway with the largest European representatives of the agri-food sector, including Copa - Cogeca, CEJA, Food Drink Europe and IFOAM. By the end of November, the Commissioner is expected to produce initial outputs from the first meetings, with further steps to be decided by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The Strategic Dialogue with a wider group of respondents should run from January to March 2024, with invitations to be sent out by the Commission by the end of December 2023. The European Commission is in listening mode for now, interested in the evaluation of the European Green Deal, and preparing for the future setting of agricultural policy. However, the European Commission has pointed out that the Strategic Dialogue is not aimed at lowering the ambition of the Green Deal, but rather at easing the current polarisation on some of the proposals.