President Bush talked about elections a lot during a speech in Brussels, Belgium on Monday. Afghanistan, Ukraine, Palestine, Iraq, even Saudi Arabia — each nation has seen encouraging voter turnout recently in elections that, more often than not, qualified for the mysteriously applied modifier “historic.”

It was only natural for Bush to focus on the elections during his address to representatives from governments in the European Union at the start of a venture across the continent — the president’s first since his own re-election in November. Elections are tangible and they represent the finest products of Bush’s first-term foreign policy. The United States was directly responsible for the relative success of elections — well, even the concept of a democratic election — in both Afghanistan and Iraq.The good indications of Mahmoud Abbas’ election in the Palestinian government and good news from Kiev, Riyadh and elsewhere are only icing on the cake for Bush and U.S. foreign policy.

But as much work (and luck) as it took to reverse political and social directions in those formerly tyrannical nations, the United States’ challenges are in many ways greater as it seeks to have the relationship it wants with the European Union and its member countries.

First, nobody knows what the result of successful diplomacy from Bush, Condoleezza Rice and the State Department will even look like. Elections where there once were none are a victory on which a politician can hang his or her hat. Not so with Bush’s high-level talks this week.

Another obvious but important difference is the clout of the European Union. When they are so inclined, the traditional powers in Europe can anger and frustrate U.S. efforts abroad (or provide assistance — don’t forget Poland), but a European Union that’s largely of the same mind on an issue, with a backing central government, can stymie U.S. goals.

Our point today isn’t to say whether the re-emergence of Europe as a “superpower” is good or bad, though that is a question thinkers and government officials are pondering in Washington.

Instead, we want President Bush and the European leaders to take their time together this week to hammer out accords with at least a little tangibility, if not on the order of national elections.

A few ideas: On-the-ground help for the United States and Britain in Iraq; a straightforward, productive plan to deal with Iran; and unified support for Eastern European countries in their dealings with an increasingly unpredictable Russia.

If Bush’s fence-mending in Europe goes well and produces real results, then maybe we can move on to the United Nations.