More people and regions will benefit from the EU Youth Employment Initiative thanks to amendments voted by the Employment and Social Affairs Committee on Tuesday. This initiative is to give effect to the "youth guarantee", whereby any young person in the EU who has been unemployed for more than four months is to be offered a job, training or an apprenticeship.

Eradicating poverty and achieving sustainable development should be the priorities of the post-2015 development agenda, said Development Committee MEPs on Tuesday. Universal health coverage and quality education should be key goals, and gender equality and decent work opportunities should become new ones, they said in a draft resolution, voted Tuesday, on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Most of the new rules tabled by the Commission on truck weights and sizes were welcomed in a debate with Commissioner Siim Kallas on Tuesday. MEPs said these rules would help cut fuel consumption and improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists. But they remained divided over whether member states should be permitted to allow the use of longer and heavier vehicles (LHVs) in cross-border transport. At Parliament's request, conditions for using LHVs across borders are included in the new rules.

Los compradores de una vivienda estarán mejor asesorados sobre los costes y consecuencias de asumir una hipoteca y más protegidos en caso de impago, en virtud de un acuerdo provisional alcanzado por el Parlamento Europeo y el Consejo el lunes por la noche. El texto, que se convertiría en la primera directiva europea sobre hipotecas, tiene todavía que ser aprobado por el pleno del Parlamento y por los Estados miembros -que tendrán dos años para implementarlo.

A provisional deal updating the EU customs code to keep pace with IT development was struck by MEPs and Irish EU presidency negotiators on Tuesday. It paves the way for paper-free customs transactions, including fast-track processing for trusted companies.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told the foreign affairs committee on Thursday that: "The most radical elements are not in the majority now" in the Syrian resistance but warned that they could gain control "if the conflict carries on."

In the run-up to the 2014 European Parliament elections, rules on founding and funding EU political parties should be revised to improve their visibility, transparency and effectiveness and enhance the European character of these elections, said the Consitutional Affairs Committee in a negotiating mandate voted on Monday for talks with the Council.

The 2014 European Parliament elections should be held from 22 to 25 May, instead of 5-8 June, says a draft decision backed with an overwhelming majority by the Constitutional Affairs Committee on Monday. This will give the new Parliament more time to prepare for the election of the European Commission President in July 2014.

The EU member states should open EU accession talks with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia before the end of June 2013, the Foreign Affairs Committee said on Monday. In a vote on the country's 2012 progress report, MEPs called on the EU enlargement Commissioner to assess the cost of non-enlargement, including key risks for the country should the current status quo persist. The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was granted EU candidate status in December 2005.

Holding elections in Mali in July "is going to be difficult", given the large number of displaced people and the adverse climate conditions, but "we have to organise what has become a fragmented society", UN special envoy for the Sahel Romano Prodi told Foreign Affairs Committee MEPs on Monday. He stressed that the French military intervention was "inevitable" but has not solved future non-military dilemmas.