Devising a "European Investment Plan" to create new jobs, reallocating EU structural funds to projects to create them for young people, and introducing a "European Youth Guarantee" to ensure that young unemployed people are not without jobs for more than four months, are among the proposals set out by MEPs in a resolution, voted in the Employment and Social Affairs Committee on Tuesday, on measures to tackle youth unemployment.

Top representatives of the Greek "Troika" stoutly defended the focus of the Greek bailout programme on Tuesday and insisted that Greece must raise its game on economic reforms, political unity and tackling vested interests, or risk failure. MEPs advocated a socially fairer and more growth-oriented programme and asked about contingency plans.

Jobs and growth remained the focus of debate at the Tuesday session of the second inter-parliamentary meeting of MEPs and MPs on the European semester for economic policy coordination. The need to involve national parliaments more closely in these EU-level debates was also widely stressed.

Third country migrants working legally within the EU should enjoy comparable rights to those of EU nationals as regards working conditions, social security and access to public services, under a new "single permit" directive agreed by Parliament and Council and backed by the Civil Liberties and Employment committees on Monday. The new law would also cut red tape, by enabling foreign workers to obtain work and residence permits via a single procedure.

Parliament's Employment Committee rapporteur, Elisabeth Morin-Chartier (EPP, FR), voiced mixed feelings on Thursday about the European Commission's new cohesion policy proposal for 2014-2020. She was concerned about a possible link between the allocation of funds to social projects and the respect for budget discipline required by the stability and growth pact.

EP rapporteur on maternity leave Edite Estrela has criticised the lack of progress by Member States on plans to modernise existing legislation on the subject, after a discussion in the Council on Friday showed diverging views between ministers, with some even proposing to stop trying to reach a deal.

Maintaining the vitality of older people, enhancing their involvement in society and removing barriers between generations should be the main aims of European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations in 2012, believes the EP Employment Committee.

Non-EU workers in Europe should have the same rights regarding working time, leave and social security as EU nationals, said the Employment Committee on Wednesday. However, MEPs also made it clear that Member States may choose to allow tax benefits only when workers' family members live in the same country. In addition, they backed the Commission's proposal to exclude posted workers from the scope of legislation.

The EU and its Member States must act to ensure that pension schemes can sustainably deliver an adequate income to the EU's growing number of retired people, despite the economic crisis, says Parliament's Employment Committee in a resolution voted on Tuesday. Pension portability must also be addressed, as must inequalities faced by women and older workers, say MEPs.

The EU should analyse the social impact of all the economic measures it has taken so far, paying special attention to the most vulnerable groups of our society, agreed participants in the third Citizens' Agora, on economic crises and various forms of poverty, hosted by the European Parliament on 27 and 28 January. All three workshops and the consensus conference called on EU to put the citizen at the centre of all its policies.