The Foreign Affairs committee called on the Council on Thursday to appoint a high-level envoy with an international reputation, tasked with raising the EU's human rights profile worldwide, to the new post of EU Special Representative for Human Rights created in line with the EP's repeated demands.

The EU will set aside €230 million in guarantees to support the issuance of "project bonds" for EU infrastructure projects under a deal concluded by MEPs and EU governments in Strasbourg on Tuesday. The deal will pilot test this innovative plan to attract private investment in transport, energy and information technology network projects.

Hopes for Libya's June elections, the first in almost 50 years, tempered by worries that arms may be smuggled through its porous borders to restless neighbouring countries, were voiced by Foreign Affairs Committee MEPs at a meeting with Libya's Deputy Prime Minister, Mustafa Abushagur, on Tuesday evening.

The Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday urged the EU to take action on the crises in West, Central and East Africa, particularly the tensions between Sudan and South Sudan. MEPs raised questions about China's role in Sudan – South Sudan relations and said China had been more proactive than the EU and could only gain from the EU's hesitation.

The welfare of animals in transport must be improved, but cutting transport time to eight hours must be supplemented by other measures, such as support for local slaughterhouses and meat processing plants, upgrading transport vehicles and full and uniform control of compliance with existing rules throughout the EU, said many Agriculture Committee MEPs in a debate on Monday.

MEPs welcomed Albania's progress towards EU candidate status in a Foreign Affairs Committee exchange of views with Albanian government and opposition representatives on Monday. The electoral and legal systems should take priority in reform efforts, said MEPs, with a view to the presidential election to be held in July.

The European Commission should have more control over fiscal policy in EU Member States, but not the free rein it asked for, says the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee in texts, voted on Monday, stating a position on the economic governance "two pack". This increased power must be democratically controlled and serve to spur economic growth, MEPs say.

Bank capital requirements must be strengthened to make banks more risk-resilient and the risk weighting of loans to small firms must be reduced to facilitate lending to the real economy, said Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee MEPs in a vote on Monday. Bankers' bonuses must not exceed their fixed pay, they added.

The Commission's legislative proposals for more competitive ground-handling services, better usage of take-off and landing slots and a harmonised approach to reduce noise nuisance around airports came under severe fire during a hearing with independent experts, representatives of airlines, airports, national aviation authorities and citizens' NGOs in the Transport and Tourism Committee on Tuesday 8 May.

The adverse effects of medicinal products will be better monitored in future, to prevent the recurrence of cases like the French diabetes medicine "Médiator" (benfluorex), which led to many deaths. Changes to existing EU legislation, backed by the Public Health Committee on Tuesday, would trigger an automatic EU safety evaluation in the event of a safety alert about a medicinal product in any EU Member State.