The Commission now seems to postpone its bilateral negotiations with Member States about their share in the total of the ‘20-20-20’ agreement (20% renewables, 20% less emissions. 20% energy savings in 2020). In spite of the promises by the Commission, the division of tasks called the ‘burden sharing agreement’ will not first be considered with individual states. Instead, the Commission will calculate all national commitments itself, on the basis of its own models, and publish them all at one time in autumn. Room for negotiations is only available afterwards, not beforehand.

That might turn out to be a rather clever thing to do.

Firstly, the Commission gains time. That is, provided the proposals will be profoundly elaborated, because otherwise all calculations will have to be repeated.

Secondly, the process will be more transparent. Bilateral negotiations carry the danger of becoming opaque. But if the Commission uses models with clear inputs, parameters and outcomes, every country can check whether its neighbour has been regarded in the same way.

Last but not least, the discussions about national targets will be public. And of course the Commission is completely aware of the tail wind for sustainable ambitions at this moment. Again, provided that the calculations are sound, national governments’ objections really have to be solid to resist the public opinion.

These tactical manoeuvres are not completely new. Also with the Directive on power from renewable sources, the Commission confronted the Member States with an (almost) accomplished ‘burden sharing  agreement’. Also in this case, a transparent process will prove to be better than backroom negotiations.