While the EU didn’t officially react to the results of Tuesday’s elections in Israel, a spokesperson for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told EJP : "The European Union waits with interest for the formation of a new government in Israel".
"We look forward to working with this new government both to develop further our bilateral relations and to promote direct negotations between Israel and the Palestinians in the framlework of the Middle East peace processs," Maja Kocijancic added.
Unconfirmed press reports recently suggested that the EU was drawing up a detailed new plan to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and that it was expected to present it after the Israelis elections.
Accordiong to the reports, the plan is intended to "bring about the establishment of a Palestinian state on the basis of the 1967 lines with east Jerusalem as its capital."
The plan would include "clear timetables for the completion of the negotiations on all the core issues in the course of 2013."
On Thursday, the EU hailed the peaceful conduct of parliamentary elections in Jordan, the first since the begin of the Arab uprisings, and pledged to continue assisting the country in strengthening its democracy.
"We welcome the peaceful conduct of the legislative elections in Jordan and congratulate the Jordanian people for exercising their civic rights," Catherine Ashton and Stefan Fule, EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy, said in a joint statement.
They noted that Wednesday's parliament elections were an important part of the political reforms initiated by Jordan in 2011 as well as an on-going process aimed at improving representation, governance and democratic accountability.
An EU Election Observation Mission (EU EOM), led by British MEP David Martin, monitored the electoral process.
The two senior EU officials said the mission would release its initial statement shortly.
Ashton and Fule said the EU EOM would provide a comprehensive analysis of the elections and a set of recommendations at a later stage, and noted that the mission's report could be used as a reference point for future electoral reforms.
"The EU will continue to assist Jordan including through measures and initiatives supporting the strengthening of democracy and the rule of law. We also encourage the Jordanian authorities to continue reaching out to all political and social groups while continuing to engage in the political and economic reform process," they added.