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On 27/11/2019, the European Parliament's plenary will vote on the approval of all committees of Commissioners-designate, so that the new European Commission could become operational in early December 2019. The European Commission will have a total of 27 Commissioners; Great Britain is very likely not to nominate any candidate. Commissioners are now working to build their cabinets, Head of Cabinet of Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski becomes the representative of Poland, and Deputy Head of his Cabinet should then be a candidate from France. Other members of the Wojciechowski Cabinet, according to unconfirmed information, could consist of representatives of Italy and Germany.

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson has promised to maintain the current annual budget for farmers provided by the European Union, at least until 2024 as part of a seven-year transition period (i.e. two years longer than originally promised). However, the promise is conditional on the re-election of the Conservatives in the elections to the new parliament on 12/12/2019. Maintaining aid to help farmers in the UK move from a common EU agricultural policy to a new system replacing the CAP with an environmental land management system that will finance farmers for providing public goods (air and water quality, climate change measures, quality) soil, animal welfare, rural life and flood risk reduction). If the Conservatives win the UK elections, they will leave the EU and enter a transitional period at the end of January 2020, when they begin negotiating a trade agreement with the EU. By contrast, the British Centrist Liberal Democratic Party promises voters to stop Brexit, saving the UK economy the promised investment of £ 50 billion (€ 58 billion).
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Members of the EP Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety are seeking to draw up a non-binding own-initiative opinion on deforestation. The Chair of the Committee, Pascal Canfin (FR, Renew Europe), asked the Conference of Committee Chairs (CCC) of the European Parliament to approve the drafting of the opinion; the Chairs should consider the request on 26/11/2019. If the CCC decides to grant the request, it will still have to be approved by the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament on 12/12/2019. Delara Burkhardt (DE, S&D) should then become the rapporteur for opinion. The opinion could also address the issue of production labelling, i.e. whether or not deforestation has occurred in any step of cultivation or production of the resulting product, particularly in the context of trade agreements with third countries.

The EP's Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) has repeatedly expressed its dissatisfaction with the compromise reached by the European Institutions on the issue of dual food quality in the single market. The compromise was approved by the European Parliament shortly before the May European elections. IMCO considers the compromise to be too vague, as it still permits the presence of dual-quality products in the single market, relying on consumer responsibility - basically expecting consumers to be able to recognize that some foods on their market taste different than the same foods on other market. However, according to Committee Chair Petra De Sutter (BE, Greens), responsibility for the occurrence of dual-quality food should not lie with consumers but with producers. Polish MEP Róża Thun (EPP) strongly criticized the ambiguity of the definition, especially when assessing the ‘significant difference’ in the composition of food. She presented the members of the Committee with an example of the product of the German producer Hochland, which in one version contained only Cottage cheese but in the other version it contained milk powder, citric acid and natural flavours. IMCO stressed that the Commission has to work on the subject; one of the first priorities should be to clarify the notion of ‘significant difference’ in composition. At present, however, due to the approval of the compromise, it is only possible to carry out additional checks; a formal review will only be possible in 2024, two years after the implementation of the Directive. Czech MEP Marcel Kolaja (Greens) reiterated his support for the inclusion of dual-quality food in the EU single market on the list of black, directly prohibited commercial practices.

Adam Grant, Regional Vice President of the French food company Danone for UK, BE, NL and IE, urged large fast moving consumer goods businesses to work together to accelerate sustainability in the food system. Danone urges companies to commit to B Corporation (BCorp) certification, which should enhance sustainability and restore consumer confidence. Danone still has 14 BCorp certified subcontractors, covering approximately 30% of Danone's global sales. The goal of the company is to become the first international BCorp-certified concern, the companies that meet the highest standards of proven social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability in order to achieve a better balance between purpose and profit.
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